final paper for social work

I.                   Agency context and background (about 3 pages): Conduct data gathering at your agency in order to address the following:

1.      In your own words, briefly describe the current mission of the agency or that of its social work department. Briefly comment on changes in location, major building expansions, changed target populations, and/or modifications in the agency mission during the past 5 years. 

2.      Classify your field agency as a public, nonprofit, or for-profit agency. Describe primary funding sources for client services and discuss the effects of these sources on the relationship to clients - for example, who is served and who is not served, what is the duration of service, what client issues are focal and what are given less priority. (Use of Netting, chapter 1 is recommended)

3.      Describe the services provided.  (Use of Wood and Tully is recommended).  Describe the role of the student in the agency and the roles of other social workers in the agency. Briefly comment on the NASW mission statement and the extent of its congruence with the policies and procedures of the agency.

II.                Client system: Select a client system for beginning problem analysis.  This can be an individual, couple, family, small treatment group, or community task group (Note: limited contact, i.e. 1-2 encounters with the client system, is acceptable and expected.)

1. Client description and engagement process (about 2 pages)

1. Briefly describe your client system and the engagement process. Include how your client system came to the attention of your agency or its social work unit. Identify the reason for the referral and/or the client system’s presenting problem.

1. Choose one of the two issues below to further describe the context for engagement with the client:

1.      Evaluate the degree to which the agency’s mission, services, and policies helped or hindered the client system’s ability to use the agency or

2.      Examine concerns related to an ethical dilemma, diversity and/or societal/institutional oppression, which were relevant to the engagement process.

1. Assessment (about 4 pages)

a.       Describe one problem-for-work (presenting problem) of your client system. (Note: there may be several problems on which to work; summarize the situation and problems generally, and then, focus on one for the purposes of this analysis.) Include an analysis of the problem as the client sees it, as defined by significant other systems, and as you see it.

b.      Provide at least 2 plausible hypotheses for the cause (etiology) or maintenance of the problem.  Make sure that your hypotheses reflect at least two levels: intrapersonal, interpersonal, or environmental.  Refer to theory (cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic, systems, etc.) to frame your perspective.  Describe how you come to understand the cause or maintenance of the problem. In other words, develop your case theory based on theory and evidence.

c.       Discuss strengths and resources of the client, which became apparent in the process of problem identification and assessment. Describe how at least one of these strengths or resources could be pivotal in the development of an intervention plan.  

1. Contracting and Planning for Intervention (about 3 pages)

a.       Describe the process of moving from problem identification to contracting and goal setting with your client system. Illustrate how you and the client system participated in the contracting or goal-setting process. Provide short illustrative selections ofdialogue from field process recording to demonstrate skills that you used, and the purposes of the communication. What interventions did you choose to facilitate the achievement of goals?

b.      How would you evaluate the status of your belief bonding (Bisman, 1994)? How will you maintain (or if needed improve) it?

c.       Any missteps in contracting and goal-setting for intervention?  If so, how did you recover?  

d.      Specifically, describe the contract and goals that you a have developed or are developing to address the problem identified above (in question 5a).  In particular, comment on the nature of the contract established (verbal, written, implicit, explicit) and the rationale for your choice.  Evaluate the quality of your goals. Are they measurable? Were they mutually developed with the client? What interventions were implemented? (Use of Hepworth and Larsen is recommended).

e.       How will you and the client system know the goals are met?

III.             Personal Reflection

1. What was your experience of working with this client system? What ethical, cultural or values issues were present? In what ways did you use your ‘self’ in this relationship? What challenged you? In what way did you grow?

 As a student, you will not be rated on the basis of what you did but on your level of understanding and analysis of your assessment and interventions. The presumption is that demonstrating insight will contribute to the development of your future competence.

Instructions: This assignment should be typed and double-spaced, with one-inch margins. It is to be no more than 12 pages, excluding references or appendices (such as genograms) with a 12 point font size. (This is 12 point). Pages should be numbered and stapled in one corner; do not use binders or covers. The reference and citation style should follow that of the American Psychological Association (see the Publication Manual of the APA in the library or on-line). 

Please note that I already did the agency analysis section of paper which I attached. The client system that I would like to use is "individual". I would also like to evaluate the degree to which agencys mission services, policies helped the client system to use agency. Client was introduced to agency by way of referal.

In section two "Assessment" I would like to use the interpersonal and intrapersonal hypotheses and the cognitive behavior theory to frame theory.