SOWK 110 Assignment 1 FINAL

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Grant MacEwan University *

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110

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Sociology

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Feb 20, 2024

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Running head: PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 1 Assignment #1: Analysis of Person-in-Environment and Strengths Based Perspectives Professor Maria Smyth SOWK-110-SWO01(1) — Social Work Practice Methods 1 MacEwan University 31% January 2022

PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 2 Introduction To be a professional social worker one needs to acquire the knowledge, skills and techniques to deal with individuals and their behavior in society and also their reactions to social problems they are confronting in their own lives. Social workers are guided by The Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) Code of Ethics who set forth values and principles to guide social workers' professional conduct and Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW) serves as the regulatory body for the profession of social work within the Alberta province. Under the Health Professions Act (HPA) legislation, ACSW is mandated to serve and protect the public interest, provide direction and to regulate the profession, establish, maintain and enforce standards and code of ethics and approve educational programs (ACSW, 2019). Social work is the practice of providing care and assistance for the physically, mentally and socially challenged individuals in the society who upholds respect for diversity, and in keeping with democratic rights and freedoms, social workers respect the distinct systems of beliefs and lifestyles of individuals, families, groups, communities and nations without prejudice, nor do they tolerate discrimination based on age, abilities, ethnic background, gender, language, marital status, national ancestry, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation or socio-economic status.(CASW, 2005). There are many social work assessment tools that help social workers with examining their clients and their situation. During the exploring phase of the interview, Social worker applies a Strength-Based Perspective and Person-in-Environment perspective theories to help the clients identify their stressors and their strengths and how their problem makes sense in that situation and then be able to help them move out of that situation. During these assessments, clients’ needs and problems can be conceptualized and be represented using Genograms,

PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 3 Ecomaps and Concept maps, tools often used to give a visual representation into the client’s world. Genograms, Ecomaps, and Concept Maps Genograms are graphic representations of family trees or pedigrees. They provide a picture of the parties involved and a chronology of significant events or themes. It is a practical visual tool for assessment of family patterns and increase awareness and understanding of how families influence their members. Ecomaps help to highlight social strengths and deficiencies, and to identify areas of conflict and compatibility. Eco-maps may serve multiple purposes. For example, they may reveal areas where resources may be accessed or changes could occur (Cournoyer, 2017, p.313). Concept maps is a visual way to organize thoughts and make connections between idea. It is useful with organizing thoughts and observes whether the person or the situation is more influential in determining a person’s behavior. In order to achieve these diagrammatical tools explained above, during the interview phase, the social worker should ask questions to elicit fact, ideas and feelings concerning the person, the issue and the situation. Questions help identify risk and protective factors as well as strengths, competencies, assets and resources, for example, “What led you to contact us about the family problems at this time? Please share your concerns about the difficulties that trouble you at this time,” are questions that allow the client maximum opportunity to express themselves freely, fully and in their own way (Cournoyer, 2017, p.321). For the relationship between a social worker and a client to be productive, the worker should not only be genuine, warm and sincere but should also express empathy (Shebib, 2020, p.35). Shebib (2020, p.169) states “empathizing occurs when we feel an appropriate emotional reaction, an emotion triggered by another person’s emotion, and it is done in order to understand

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PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 4 another person to predict their behavior and to connect and resonate with them emotionally™. Empathy is one of the most important aspects of creating strong relationships, reducing stress, and enhancing emotional awareness. Appropriate empathy builds trust and honors the fact that clients have real and rational reasons for feeling they way they do and assist them in identifying and labelling feelings that may have been too painful or overwhelming to address on their own (Shebib, 2020, p.170). Some skills achieve multiple purposes, active listening contributes to the development of the relationship because it communicates acceptance and keeps both persons actively engaged. Other skills that are necessary are paraphrasing, summarizing, silence, empathy and asking questions (Shebib, 2020, p.41). Understanding Person-in-Environment Perspective (PIE) It is useful to think about skills and strategies in terms of their function and intended purpose. Social workers also embrace the person-in-environment perspective. Social workers recognize that the past and present physical and social environments profoundly affect people by influencing their development, their thinking processes and belief systems, their habits and behavior toward others, and their subjective experience (Cournoyer, 2017, p.8). The person in environment along with their experiences, will help shape the way they view the world, how they think and why they respond the way they do. Mental health, physical health and addiction are linked. The terms mental illness and addiction refer to a wide range of disorders that affect mood, thinking and behavior. People with a long-term medical condition such as chronic pain are much more likely to also experience mood disorders, for example, depression, anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, as well as substance use disorders can be associated with distress and/or impairment of functioning. People with a mental illness are twice as likely to have a substance use problem compared to the general

PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 5 population. At least 20% of people with a mental illness have a co-occurring substance use problem. For people with schizophrenia, the number may be as high as 50% (Rush et al., 2008). Biopsychosocial is useful because it explains how people who are seemingly healthy can develop mental illnesses and why some are more prone to mental illness than others. Those who are mentally healthy most likely exercise, have positive energy and strong social bonds does not exempt them from mental illness. The biopsychosocial perspective gives evidence that although someone can be mentally healthy at some point in their life, they can still experience mental illness if their biopsychosocial balance is disturbed (Cournoyer, 2017, p.358). The biopsychosocial and PIE assessment emphasize that anyone can suffer from a mental illness because we all have biological, psychological, and social influencers in our lives. The aspect that resonate with me is biopsychosocial as it broadens the way I view mental illness by viewing it through multiple lenses. I will be able to apply every aspect of the patient’s life to their illness and give them a sense of self-awareness in understanding their health as a whole entity with several parts that function together. Strengths-Based Perspective The strengths perspective builds upon the client’s strengths, seeing that the clients are resourceful and resilient and respect the power within human beings that is exercised to overcome adverse conditions (Saleebey, 2005, p.335). Using the strength-based approach allows people to see themselves at their best in order to see their own value. It then allows a person to move that value forward and capitalize on their strengths rather than focus on their negative characteristics. The central and most crucial element of any approach is the extent to which people, set goals they would like to achieve in their lives. Environmental resources are critical/crucial in the strength-based approach, no matter how harsh the environment may seem

PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES there are individuals, associations, groups and institutions who have something to give, that others may find useful (Saleebey, 2005, p.336). Encouraging clients to explore feelings, for example, anger, fear or sadness, is important as these characteristics help social workers understand the client issue/situation and to help in formulating and/or structure a plan of action that best suits the individual (Cournoyer, 2017, p.338). Identifying strengths, competencies and social support gives direction and purpose of work by the social worker facilitating by actively recognize and engage the things people are able to do or are interested in. In doing so, they will naturally focus on the things that are working well to create positive experiences driven by the person's intrinsic goals and aspirations (Saleebey, 2017, p.339, para.3). Individuals often exhibit great resistance to acknowledging their competence, reserves, and resourcefulness. Many traits and capacities that are signs of strength may be hindered by lack of words, such as insight, independence, relationship, initiative, creativity and morality, their disbelief and lack of trust. The social worker may have to begin to provide the language to look for and give name to those resiliencies that people have demonstrated in the past and in the present, this can only be achieved when the client’s develop trust in sharing their stories of what they have done, how they survived, what they want and what they want to avoid (Saleebey, 2017, p.339, para.3). In order to identify the client’s strength during the interview phase, the social worker should ask the following questions: “How have you managed to survive (or thrive) thus far, given all the challenges you have had to contend with? How have you been able to rise to the challenges put before you? What have you learned about yourself and your world during your

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PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 7 struggles? Which of these difficulties have given you special strength, insight, or skill?” (Saleebey, 2005, p.340). Conclusion To become an effective social worker there are certain knowledge, skills, techniques and tools needed. During the exploring phase of the interview there are assessment tools used; Genograms, Ecomaps, Concept Maps, Strength-Based Perspective and Person-in-Environment perspective to help social workers identify their client’s stressors, strengths and how their problems affect their situation and how to move forward from their current situation. Genograms provides a pictorial assessment of family relationships and patterns and increase awareness and understanding of how families influence their members. Ecomaps help to highlight social strengths and deficiencies, and to identify areas of conflict and compatibility. Concept maps provides a visual way to organize thoughts and make connections between ideas. Person-in- environment (PIE) provides the central framework of social work practice considering clients within their psychosocial contexts helping shape the way clients view their world. Strength- Based perspective recognizes the strengths and resources of people, communities and their environments rather than their problems. It emphasizes the human capacity for resilience, resistance, and encourages the individual to achieve their own goals and aspirations. My goal for improving my social work skills are to become more knowledgeable about the Person -in-Environment and Strength Based Perspective in order to avoid personal assumptions or biases from interfering with effective interviewing. Through my learnings I would be able to address clients’ problems with research to back up their practices.

PIE & STRENGTH BASED PERSPECTIVES 8 References Alberta College of Social Workers (ACSW), (2019). Standards of Practice. Retrieved from https://acsw.in1touch.org/uploaded/web/website/DRAFT%20ACSW%?20Standards%200 f%20Practice%20Bi111%2021%20Implementation%2002282019.pdf Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW), (2005). Code of Ethics 2005. Retrieved from https://www.casw-acts.ca/files/attachements/casw_code of ethics.pdf Cournoyer, B. (2017). The social work skills workbook. (8th ed.) Belmont, CA: Thomas Brooks/Cole Publishing. Rush et al (2008). Prevalence of co-occurring substance use and other mental disorders in the Canadian population. Can J Psychiatry. 2008 Dec;53(12):800-9. doi: 10.1177/070674370805301206. PMID: 19087478. Saleebey, D. (2005). The strengths perspective: principles and practice. In Compton, Galaway & Cournoyer (2005). Social work processes. (7th ed. pp.334-343). Belmont, CA: Thomas Brooks/Cole Publishing.

SOWK 110 Assignment 1 FINAL

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