week6 post2

The family unit is at the core of our society. They provide the foundation for our future behaviors, experiences and relationships. For that reason, much attention has been focused on how to better support struggling families. Conduct your own research to determine what you feel are the most significant issues U.S. families are currently facing. As a social worker, how might you work with families to address these? Keep in mind that a social workers role is to not only help those in need, but to fight for social justice as well. This is the question that we had to response to

Class,

I think one of the biggest things affecting families is trauma and all the ways it turns into other issues. " Trauma affects a person's quality of life across virtually all domains (Felitti et al., 1998). In the United States, 90 percent of students attend public schools; therefore, public schools are the ideal medium for comprehensive intervention (National Center for Education Statistics, 2015). As one widely cited study found, the majority of American children receive access to mental health services through the school system (Farmer, Burns, Phillips, Angold, & Costello, 2003; Ko et al., 2008)" (Plumb, J. L., Bush, K. A., & Kersevich, S. E. (2016))Additionally, most children remain in the public school system for thirteen crucial developmental years." Trauma can cause adults to turn adults to have many problems that affect way they handle their family. We need to make sure we identify issues as a soon as possible with children. Hopefully, from their we can treat them and prevent future consequences.

Amanda Coughlin

Gabriela Thompson

1 posts

Re: Topic 6 DQ 1

Hello everyone,

Having a strong family unit is crucial to the health and well-being of everyone in that family unit. Family provides a foundation for what behaviors are acceptable and provides an example of what healthy relationships should look like. However, each family faces its share of obstacles, and they can differ greatly from family to family. One of the biggest issues facing families in the United States is mental illness. When mental illness such as depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia enters a family, it can cause great emotional costs for every member of that family (Pinerest, n.d.). As a social worker who is working with a family for which there is suspected mental illness that is causing issues, I would begin by conducting in-house assessments such as depression screening questionnaires. If the scores show that an individual is at risk, I will refer the client to a therapist for treatment. Once there is a mental illness diagnosis, I would set up family counseling sessions that would provide the family with the skills needed to cope with and deal with mental illness in the household. After the initial appointments, I would follow up with home visits to ensure that the skills learned during therapy and counseling are benefiting the household.

References

Pinerest. (n.d.). Mental illness affects the whole family. https://www.pinerest.org/mental-illness-affects-whole-family-blog/

Read Chapters 11, 13, and 14 in the textbook.

URL:

http://gcumedia.com/digital-resources/pearson/2011/introduction-to-social-work_ebook_12e.php