Core Competency 10

Engage, assess, intervene, and evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Professional practice involves the dynamic and interactive processes of engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation at multiple levels. Social workers have the knowledge and skills to practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Practice knowledge includes identifying, analyzing, and implementing evidence-based interventions designed to achieve client goals; using research and technological advances; evaluating program outcomes and practice effectiveness; developing, analyzing, advocating, and providing leadership for policies and services; and promoting social and economic justice. Social workers

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3/4

10 (a): Engagement

Engagement is the period when the social worker gets the information about the problem. At this point, the social worker begins to communicate with the client and build a relationship. During this step of the planned change process it is important to take in the client’s self-determination. The Code of Ethics states, "social workers respect and promote the right of clients to use self-determination and assist clients in their efforts to identify and clarify their goals." This simply means to respect the rights of the client.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Practice behavior one: substantively and affectively prepare for action with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities;

Through my time at Western New England University I have learned how to effectively prepare for action. I began to understand how to properly prepare for action at Rick's Place last year. I had to create an agenda for every meeting with the children that included an opening, three activities and a closing. Having this experience helped me with the preparation skills needed to create agendas for my clients at the Children's Study Homes this year. Having a set outline does not only help me, but also helps the clients because having consistency is crucial to many of my clients. I gave myself a three for this learning behavior because I have learned how to properly prepare for action, however my preparation does not always work out.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Rick's Place: Ricks place plans-- young teens week 5.doc

Senior Seminar: PROCESS RECORDING 2016.doc

Practice behavior two: use empathy and other interpersonal skills; and

To be able to work successfully with a client, a social worker must be able to show empathy, but in order to be able to show empathy, a social worker must first understand where the client is coming from. Through my time at Western New England University I have learned that a social worker will never be able to show empathy until they fully understand where the client is coming from and also understand their situation. In order to gather this information, the social worker has to develop great interpersonal and interviewing skills. I have always felt comfortable talking to people and this one of the reasons why I decided to go into social work, however, through my time at Western New England University I have begun to build my own interviewing style. For this practice behavior I gave myself a four because I do not only show empathy, I understand you have to first understand where the clients are coming from before being able to show full empathy.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

Out Now: Learning Log 13.doc

Methods: Interview Assignment 1.doc

Practice behavior three: develop a mutually agreed-on focus of work and desired outcomes.

Through my time at The Children's Study Home I have developed multiple treatment plans that provide the client with goals to complete throughout the time of service. However, I had an issue with creating a treatment plan without any input from the client. With that said, during my first visit with a client after the intake, I began asking the client what they want out of the service, what they expect their experience with me to be like, and any personal goals that they would like to complete. After I gather this information I can create a more personalized treatment plan that will be more helpful for my client. In my junior year at Western New England University I created a BioPsychoSocial where I worked together with the client to create both short term goals such as filing a 51A and more long term goals around safety and self-confidence. I then created a service plan for this client, keeping in mind their stage of change. I gave myself a three for this practice behavior because at the start of the year I would create treatment plans without input from the client.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Methods: service plan.doc

The Children's Study Home: Treatment Plan 1.pdf, Treatment Plan 2.pdf, Treatment Plan 3.pdf

10 (b): Assessment

Following engagement, assessment is another important aspect of social work. This is when the social worker collects and interprets information given to them by the client. After gathering the information the social worker has to have the ability to be able to write out an effective assessment and have the ability to use the assessment to select effective interventions.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Practice behavior one: collect, organize, and interpret client data;

Through my time at The Children's Study Home I have completed and organized treatment plans and treatment reviews. I was able to read and understand assessments of clients from DCF and interpret that information and put it into appropriate goals for the client to complete while at The Children's Study Home. I gave myself a four on this practice behavior because I feel I was able to adequately collect, organize, and interpret client data.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

The Children's Study Home: Treatment Plan 1.pdf, Treatment Plan 2.pdf, Treatment Plan 3.pdf

The Children's Study Home: Learning Log 2 due week of Sept 28.doc

Practice behavior two & three: assess client strengths and limitations; develop mutually agreed-on intervention goals and objectives; and

As stated above, at The Children's Study Home in the first visit after the intake meeting I ask the clients many questions about goals, strengths, and weaknesses. I then create a treatment plan from their expressed strengths and try to build off of the client's strengths instead of focusing on the client's weaknesses. When creating goals together it increases the likeliness of the client fully engaging in services. Through our time together I help the client identify new strengths that they may not have recognized they had. For this practice behavior I gave myself a three because I understand the importance of working with clients on developing goals that are included in the treatment plan.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

The Children's Study Home: Treatment Plan 1.pdf, Treatment Plan 2.pdf, Treatment Plan 3.pdf

Senior Seminar: Case Presentation 2016 final.doc

Methods: service plan.doc

Rick's Place: Service Plan.doc

Practice behavior four: select appropriate intervention strategies.

As I have matured as a social worker I have been able to craft and select appropriate interventions. I have learned that not all interventions work for every client in the same way because all clients are different, however, at times while interning at the Children's Study Home I still struggle with understanding which interventions would work better with which client. This knowledge comes with experience. I know that selecting appropriate intervention strategies comes with experience because through my time at Rick's Place, I have improved greatly in selecting interventions that are successful. I deserve a three for this practice behavior because even though I have grown greatly and have begun to select and create appropriate interventions, I still struggle at times creating or selecting completely useful interventions for clients.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Rick's Place: Ricks place plans-- Littles.doc

Children's Study Home: How Education Affects Early Child Development PE--CSH.doc

Rick's Place: Case Notes 3.doc

10 (c): Intervention

In social work, after you take an effective and accurate assessment of a client you then will have the information needed to intervene. The main goal of interventions is to work towards common goals between the social worker and the client. An effective way to set up interventions with the client is to make a service plan.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

Practice behavior one: initiate actions to achieve organizational goals;

At The Children's Study Home family program the main goal is to create family stabilization, in whatever form that may be for that specific family. For example, in one case it may be reuniting the parent and the child, however in another case it may be keeping the child within the home. It is important to keep that in mind while creating a treatment plan that includes the goals of the client. To complete these organizational goals and client goals the Family Support Worker creates different activities specifically for that client to help them complete their goals of family stabilization. Within my process recording you can see an example of a session that I held with a father that has been reunified with his son and we are working towards family stabilization. I gave myself a four for this practice behavior because all of the clients that I have worked with have reached family stabilization.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

Senior Seminar: PROCESS RECORDING 2016.doc

The Children's Study Home: Learning Log 5 due week of Nov. 9.doc

Practice behavior two: implement prevention interventions that enhance client capacities;

At The Children's Study Home I have learned the importance of creating a safety plan. At the end of every treatment plan there is a safety plan for children that must include the following: the client ensures the safety and well being of the child, the client must stay in contact with DCF, CSH, and family networks at all times, and the client must consistently provide information in Parent Education pertaining to their child's safety. Along with the safety plan, I always include discipline and child-parent relationship sessions regardless of the client's goals because every parent can benefit from a different outlook on these topics. The self efficiency score I am giving myself for this practice behavior is a three. The reason for this is because I am lacking in different types of prevention interventions to use when working with clients, yet I have gained a great amount of knowledge in this practice behavior through my time at The Children's Study Home.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

The Children's Study Home: Positive reinforcement 1.pdf, Positive reinforcement 2.pdf, Positive reinforcement 3.pdf

The Children's Study Home: 1 Treatment Plan 1.pdf

Practice behavior three: help clients resolve problems;

Every client of The Children's Study Home is referred through DCF for many different reasons such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect of their child or children, or substance abuse. To help the client solve these problems we focus on the clients strengths and solve their issues through different Parent Education topics and support. For example, if the client has physically abused their child the social worker should first have a discussion with the client about their strengths and ask them to point out their own strengths. If they cannot point out any strengths then the social worker should know to start with self-confidence, but if the client can point out strengths then the social worker can build from these strengths to help eliminate the problems. A good session topic may be positive reinforcement because this can teach the client an alternative method of discipline. However, at Rick's Place helping clients resolve problems looks much different. At Rick's Place we are not there to solve problems of clients or even “help”. Our sole purpose at Rick's Place is to show support, and hopefully that is helpful for the client. I gave myself a four in this practice behavior because I understand the importance of using the strengths perspective and showing support to clients to help them resolve different problems they may have.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

The Children's Study Home: Learning Log 1 due week of Feb 1.doc

Rick's Place: case note 17.doc

Practice behavior four: negotiate, mediate, and advocate for clients; and

Through my time at Out Now I learned the importance of advocating for clients. Many clients that I will work with as a social worker are not going to be able to speak up for themselves and you have to be their voice when it comes to what is best for them. At the Children's Study Home my supervisor and I often advocate on behalf of the client when DCF is being difficult or unreasonable. In addition to advocating for clients at both Out Now and The Children's Study Home, I wrote a paper in SW 313 about TANF where I discussed how time-limits were placed on TANF due to incorrect assumptions from society about recipients on TANF and due to a lack of knowledge of the past. I gave myself a three for this practice behavior because I understand the importance of negotiation and advocating for clients, yet I still need to become more competent on how to advocate for clients.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Out Now: Learning Log 4.doc

SW 313: TANF.doc

Practice behavior five: facilitate transitions and endings.

I have had both great endings and not so great endings with clients. You can read in my Rick's Place learning log #3 where I discussed about the importance of make a healthy separation with clients. I also understand that termination can have an affect on both the clients and also the social worker. I completely agree with this theory because when I left the students at Talmadge Elementary School it was upsetting. On the other hand, at The Children's Study Home many of the clients terminate with the services because they do not attend their required sessions and the agency policy is to terminate services after three missed Parent Educations or visits. These terminations have not been too difficult. Many of the clients that I have had at the Children's Study Home have ended with a healthy separation. However, healthy separations at Rick's Place and The Children's Study Home look much different because many of the clients of The Children's Study Home do not chose to be involved with the services but rather are required to be involved while most of the clients at Rick's Place voluntarily become involved in the services. The self efficacy score I am giving myself for this practice behavior is a four because I have facilitated both healthy and unhealthy separations with clients.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 4

Rick's Place: learning log 3.doc

The Children's Study Home: Learning Log 4 due week of Mar 21.doc

10 (d): Evaluation

In social work it is crucial to be able to evaluate your interventions as well as yourself in order to become more successful in the future. For every intervention that you create you should also think of a way to measure the success or failure of the intervention.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Practice behavior one: critically analyze, monitor, and evaluate interventions.

This is a great example of a social worker being able to learn a concept in the classroom but until it is put into practice they are unable to truly understand it. No matter how much you learn in class about different interventions there is no way to learn if they are going to work until you actually implement the different interventions. Also, it is crucial to understand that one intervention may work for one client but not another. In my process recording you can see an intervention that I did with a client and then after implementing it, analyzed and evaluated its success. I am beginning to analyze and monitor the interventions that I implement much more then I used to in the past, however I still need to learn more about the evaluation process and determining what was useful and that is why I gave myself a three for this practice behavior.

SELF-EFFICACY SCORE: 3

Senior Seminar: PROCESS RECORDING 2016.doc

Research: Parent Education Survey.doc

Research: Parenting Journey Survey.doc