Seselelame: Reflective team approach to practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-87
Author(s):  
Julia Jude

Abstract: This paper focuses on an awareness of self through the integration of Seselelame Reflective Team Approach to Practice (SRTAP), a model I develop that was adapted from Anderson’s systemic reflective team approach. An understanding of how SRTAP enhances the quality of practice of social workers is explored. Approaching this task from a practice-based standpoint I draw from my experience and practice. I explore how the concept of SRTAP was embedded in a local social work context; I explain and illustrate the value of bringing forth an awareness of self through the use of feeling in the body to practice, inviting an appreciation of the value of practical wisdom through SRTAP.The narratives of practitioners offer examples of the effectiveness of the SRTAP on casework (that is, tasks involving plans or ideas, solving problems or making decisions). I discuss conditions, rationale and guidance needed to achieve and sustain the benefits of SRTAP.Taking feedback from practitioners, my experience and observation I suggest that SRTAP creates a blend between intuitive and analytical ways of being in practice, contributing practice competence through an exploration of self as a resource when dealing with complex relational dynamics. When I use the word ‘self’ in this paper, I refer to felt responses in terms of feelings in the body.

1996 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Sellick

The quality of relations between social workers and foster carers can virtually make or break a placement. Clive Sellick uses a wide range of social work literature to examine some of the conditions needed for these relations to succeed, both in the realm of practical organisation and in terms of individual qualities such as reliability, honesty, empathy and warmth.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 9-16
Author(s):  
Michaela Šuľová

Mental health is a fragile area. One of the frequent psychical illnesses is depression which means decline, uneasiness, anxiety. Many people develop a psychical illness during their life, whereby the triggering mechanism can be different stressful situation. Thus, many people with psychical illness become clients of social services facilities. This way the client comes into contact with social workers, which should be ready for their work (or rather mission) professionally and personally. They should be familiar with a range of approaches, methods and techniques, which they can implement based on the client’s individual needs within social intervention, in order to improve the client’s quality of life. The aim of our research is to determine what approaches and methods are used in social work with depressed clients. As a research method we use the analysis of professional materials and case studies, which focused on the application of methods of social work with clients with depression. The article has theoretical and research parts. In the theoretical part we introduce the diagnostics and symptoms of depression. In the research part we analyze the approaches and methods, used in social work with a depressed client. Then we present case studies, which are focused on the application of methods of social work with clients with depression.


2021 ◽  
Vol 162 (27) ◽  
pp. 1089-1098
Author(s):  
Zsolt Szakály ◽  
József Bognár ◽  
Zoltán Tánczos ◽  
Csaba András Dézsi

Összefoglaló. Bevezetés: A szociális szférában dolgozók túlterheltsége jelentős, és munkakörülményeik többnyire kedvezőtlenek. Bizonyított, hogy az életcélok meghatározzák a karrier, az egészségtudatosság és az életminőség területeit, de ez utóbbi a szociális dolgozók mintáján még nem került bizonyításra. Célkitűzés: A kutatás célja, hogy bemutassa egy szociális és egészségügyi szolgáltatóintézmény női dolgozóinak (n = 127) tápláltsági és fittségi állapotát és életminőségét, valamint az életcélok meghatározó szerepét ezekre a mutatókra. Módszer: Kérdőív, teszt, testösszetétel-vizsgálat és fittségiállapot-felmérés segítségével gyűjtöttünk adatokat, amelyeket különbözőségvizsgálattal és regresszióelemzéssel elemeztünk. Eredmények: A minta tápláltsági mutatója túlsúlyra utal, míg a fittségi állapot, az életminőség és az életcélok még elfogadható tartományban vannak, de a szélsőértékek jelentősek. A magasabb életcélokkal rendelkezők jobb fittségi mutatókkal és életminőséggel jellemezhetők. Az ülőmunkát és a fizikai munkát végzők között minimális különbség volt kimutatható a tápláltsági mutatók, a fittség és az életminőség tekintetében. A táppénzt igénybe vevők gyengébb fittségi és életminőség-mutatókkal rendelkeznek, mint akik nem voltak betegszabadságon. Az életkor előrehaladtával romló testösszetételt és fittségi állapotot detektáltunk. Következtetés: A korábbi kutatási eredményeket megerősíthetjük abban, hogy a szociális dolgozók tápláltsági és fittségi mutatói, valamint életminőségszintje nem optimális. Az életcélok meghatározó szerepe a vizsgált területek számottevő részében bizonyítást nyert. A dolgozói életcélok megerősítésének egyik fontos színtere a munkahely, ahol számos pozitív hatás érhető el a testi-lelki egészség, a jóllét és a munkateljesítmény területein is. Orv Heti. 2021; 162(27): 1089–1098. Summary. Introduction: Professionals working in the social sector typically do significant overwork in rather unfavourable working conditions. Although the purpose in life is proved to determine the areas of career, health awareness, and the quality of life, the latter has not yet been confirmed among social workers. Objective: The purpose of this research is to demonstrate body composition and fitness status as well as the quality of life of female employees (n = 127) at a social institution, furthermore the decisive role purpose of life plays in these indicators. Method: Data were collected through questionnaires, tests, body composition analyses, and fitness status tests, and were assessed by t-test, analysis of variance and regression analysis. Results: Body composition of the participants indicates a generally overweight status, while fitness status, quality of life, and purpose of life are within the acceptable range, however, all with notable range values. Those with a higher-level purpose of life demonstrate better fitness indicators and higher quality of life. In terms of body composition, fitness, and quality of life, only a minor difference was found between those who do intellectual and physical type of work. Those who took sick leave demonstrated a lower level of fitness and quality of life compared to those who did not take any sick leave. Body composition and fitness status have proven to deteriorate with age. Conclusion: Previous research findings can be confirmed by stating that neither the body composition and fitness indicators, nor the quality-of-life level of social workers are optimal. The determining role of purpose in life has been proven in substantial aspects in this study. One of the focus areas of enhancing purpose in life is the workplace, where major positive impacts can be achieved in terms of the physical and mental health, well-being, and work performance. Orv Hetil. 2021; 162(27): 1089–1098.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 108-119
Author(s):  
Dr. Abraham Mutluri ◽  

This article discusses the role of professional social workers in promotion of quality of life of children orphaned by AIDS. Children orphaned by AIDS are the children, who have the age of below 18 years, and lost one or both biological parents due to AIDS. It is estimated that there are 13.8 million children worldwide had lost mother or father or both parents to AIDS as of 2020. Children orphaned by AIDS face economic, social, psychological, and health problems. It is very difficult for them to access the basic needs such as food, shelter and clothing as well as education. This study conducted in two states of India i.e. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with 316 children orphaned by AIDS. The study found that women-headed, granny-headed and child-headed families are more in HIV affected families. Stigma and discrimination were faced by 64.2 per cent respondents. About 35 per cent of the children are not attending the schools regularly, 72.2 per cent respondents required psycho-social support. Social work is a practice-based profession and it believes that every child is unique. There is a lot of scope for the practice of social work profession with these children. Social workers work as a social case-worker, social group worker, community organizer, social activist, social welfare administrator, social researcher, counsellor, communicator, and educator etc. to promote the quality of life of children orphaned by AIDS. This study suggested a strategy to work with children orphaned by AIDS.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin Cargill

© 2013, IGI Global. The revolution in information technologies, in particular the growth of the Internet and greater access to computers, has given social workers unprecedented access to information resources. Researching such resources is crucial and it needs to be done efficiently. Planning an efficient search requires knowing which databases and other resources to use, knowing how to formulate an answerable question, identifying terms that inform the question, selecting the appropriate methodological filters, and being able to critically appraise evidence for its quality and relevance. This chapter, therefore, outlines some of the research sources available to social workers, it looks at some principles for finding information for practice in social work, and it outlines some criteria for evaluating the quality of that information.


2020 ◽  
pp. 147332502097332
Author(s):  
Finn McLafferty Bell

The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified existing injustices in the United States, which is exemplified in Ypsilanti, Michigan. However, the pandemic also provides an opportunity to re-imagine existing ways of being in the world, and mutual aid networks that have provided for people's basic needs during multiple crises while also working towards more radical change provide an opportunity for social workers to examine their relationship to “helping.” The author uses their personal experience with a local mutual aid network to examine the power and possibility of mutual aid, particularly in times of crisis, as well as sources of social work resistance to decentralized and non-professional forms of helping and caring. These lessons are carried beyond the COVID-19 pandemic to their consequences for the looming climate crisis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 65-66
Author(s):  
Susanny Beltran ◽  
Paola Luigi ◽  
Nancy Kusmaul

Abstract Older adults, particularly those from low-income communities, are disproportionately negatively affected by natural disasters. As the older adult population grows and natural disasters increase in frequency and intensity, social workers must consider their role in supporting the needs and safety of this population. Social workers practice in varied roles including policy advocate, service broker, and educator, all of which are crucial in disaster management. This systematic review summarizes the literature on the social work profession’s involvement with emergency management with older adults, and identifies gaps. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, authors searched AgeLine, CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and Social Work Abstracts for peer-reviewed publications between January 1, 2009 and March 1, 2020. Examples of the terms searched include social work*, respon*, prepar*, disaster, crisis, emergency, geriatrics and older adults. The initial searches yielded 298 publications. After removing duplicates and screening articles for relevance based on titles and abstracts, 21 publications were retained for full review. A total of 11 articles met inclusion criteria. The body of literature identified was small. The majority of the publications constituted conceptual papers, textbook reviews, and letters to editors requesting greater emphasis on emergency management. Only three empirical studies were identified. Broadly, the publications discussed: (1) policies and resources; (2) needs; (3) capacity across practice settings; and (4) interventions. Findings reveal an underdeveloped area of social work practice, and highlight opportunities for researchers and practitioners to define gerontological social workers’ role in emergency management and detail best practice guidelines.


Author(s):  
Lori Chambers ◽  
Sheila Cranmer-Byng ◽  
May Friedman ◽  
Meaghan Ross ◽  
Warimu Njoroge ◽  
...  

In the context of service restructuring that has gravely impacted quality of life for social workers and the people with whom they work, this paper considers the ways that social work education can better support social justice-based social work practices in urban communities in Canada. The paper’s authors attended a fall 2013 Ryerson University forum that brought together critical social work educators and community-based activist social workers struggling to bring social justice-based practices to their work within restructured social services. Examples of social service restructuring include cuts to services, labour intensification, and increased managerialism, processes known as neoliberalism that have shifted discourses away from quality of life toward a focus on economic markers and efficiencies. The purpose of our forum was to explore ways in which social work curricula and pedagogical practices can be challenged and redefined in order to better support those efforts by social workers to resist such processes and to enhance social worker and client quality of life. Our paper presents the findings of this forum, including the presentation and discussion of a series of recommendations to reconfigure social work education so that it is more congruent with the needs of social justice-based practice in social work.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-182
Author(s):  
Peter Slater

This paper will highlight Meltzer’s seminal concept of the claustrum, an unconscious phantasy of space inside the body of the internal mother that has been broken into and occupied. The function of such a phantasy of invasion into the internal mother is usually defensive in nature, where infantile anxiety has not been assuaged by adequate means of containment. The infantile part in seeking to avoid anxieties of annihilation and abandonment, in phantasy forcibly enters the internal maternal object residing there in search of relief. The price of seeking out such relief from vulnerability and helplessness is entrapment with lies, deceit, cruelty, and fraudulence as bedfellows. Meltzer pointed to the difficult struggle in escaping such fraudulent ways of being, to be able to acknowledge the goodness of the creative couple and the bearing of depressive pain. The claustrum is therefore a claustrophobic enclave. The setting is the inside of a maternal object that is made up of separate compartments, each filled with its own geographical features and qualities. This paper will draw upon intensive psychoanalytic psychotherapy with a five-year-old adopted child to illustrate the quality of existence within the claustrum and the child’s struggle to find an internal home. Waitara Ko tā tēnei tuhinga he aronui i te ariā tairangi a Merete, arā Meltzer, mō te mokoā, he mariko maurimoengā mokoā i roto o te tinana o te hinengaro whaea kua wāhia kua whetaia. Ko te tikanga o te mariko pērā ki te hinengaro whaea, i te nuinga o te wā, he momo whakatumatuma mēnā kāre i mau pai te whakamāoriori taiohi. Ko te wāhanga ki te taiohi i a ia e whai ana ki te karo manawa pā ā-kore, ā-whakarerehanga i rō mariko ka houa te rawa hinengaro whaea kei reira nei e noho ana ki te kimi taumatua. Ko te utu o te rapu whakamāmātanga o te pēhitanga me te paraheaheahanga he whakamau ki te kōrero parau, ki te mahi whakawiriwiri me te whānako hai hoa moetahi. I tohua ake e Merete te uauatanga o te whawhai ki te māwhiti i ēnei momo mahi, o te kaha ki te whakaae ki te pai o te tokorua mariko me te pupuri mamae pēhitanga. Nōreira, he wāhi whakatinā te mokoā nei. Ko te tūnga, ko roto o tētahi rawa morimori i hangaia mai i ētahi tūāporo whakakīa ki ōna ake matawhenua, kōunga hoki. Ka huri tēnei pepa ki te tātarihanga whaiora hinengaro o tētahi tama tāne whāngai tokorima ngā tau hai whakaahua i te kōunga o te mauri kei roto i te mokoā me te karawheta a te tamaiti ki te kimi kāinga hinengaro.


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