WK4Assgn_Enow_S SOCW-6101-29

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Walden University *

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6101

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Sociology

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Jan 9, 2024

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WK4Assgn_Enow_S. Submit a 2- to 3-page paper in which you do the following: Describe the population or problem with which you are interested in working. There is no shortage of tents around the city of San Jose and people walking in the streets, sitting and sleeping in sidewalks homeless encampment and begging for food. Silicon Valley is consider one of the rich area in the country, it will be expected silicon valley will take care for its homeless population. You will be surprised to know that like the rest of the country, the problem of homelessness affects many people across the United States and bay area where I call home is no different. The people who are homeless are mostly cared for by the efforts of social workers. Homelessness is a serious problem in the USA and a chronic problem in California. According to Kim et al 2023, Over a single night count in 2019, around 568,000 people in the United States were experiencing homelessness (Henry et al., 2020). According to a report by PBS news, “The San Francisco Bay Area has a rising homeless population. On any given night, an estimated 35,000 individuals are without a place to live”. And the University of Southern California homelessness policy research institute, noted that “nearly 28% of people experiencing homelessness in California are considered chronically homeless”. All these different groups noted that lack of affordable housing, mental illness, high rents, immigration, etc are why some people are homeless in the state and country. Another study conducted in Australia point to “social exclusion” as a contributing factor and other reasons such “domestic violence, unemployment, and substance misuse” contributed to homelessness (Julaine A & Michael K (2014). But you will be surprised to know that like the rest of the country, homeless encampments in the cities of San Jose. Identify the roles social workers take with this population/problem. The authors in one of my readings noted that, “As part of the social work profession’s obligation to serve the most vulnerable populations, we must expect that many clients will need our assistance” (Kirst- Ashman & Grafton, 2018). Any social worker working with this population can expect to be many different things for their client such as care coordination, advocate, facilitate, organize and collaborate for them. As noted in one of the readings that, “They help people increase their capacities for problem solving and coping. They help people obtain needed resources, facilitate interactions between people and their environments. and make organizations responsive to people. (Cox, L.E., 2019 )”. With that said, a social worker will get involve in linking homeless clients with low-income housing, substance use treatment programs, DV women shelter and mental health outpatient services. Homeless people will also benefit from advocacy from a social worker collaboration through the city council for more shelter beds in her community. License Social worker will also be the therapist and do their care coordination with other clinicians. Describe what you learned about working with this population during your Walden Library search. A paragraph in the article “Helping America’s Homeless cut my attention when the writer talks about “there are also indications that people come to homeless assistance programs or intakes centers because they are the only visible help around, even though what client really may need, and want, is mental health or substance abuse services, childcare, or even a place to stay a few days in a new city when they cannot afford a motel”. A new social worker working in the field has to be free of judgment and hold

back their personal biases. Since reasons why people might end up homeless can be as simple as one of the things mentioned above. I am now learning a lot about the homeless population and understands that it is a complicated population and cannot be look at in a single lens. Though the government, states and cities have made great stride in tackling homelessness, providing services it remains a problem for many groups. Another learning experience is understanding that some homeless people suffer because of the way services are arrange by the state of county. Burt 2001 as cited in Hartwell 2002, that sometimes the difficulties some homeless people is lack of services for the homeless people but due to the way existing arrangement of services”. Many homeless families, single, married, coupled not married, etc. will be denied at shelters in the county I lived in because of rules or criteria put in place. Married couple without children will be separated at a shelter. Until recently gay couple will be denied space in a female only shelter and vise vesa. More needs to be done in advocacy for the homeless. Look at (Burt et al 2001 as cited in Julian Allen and Michael Kemp article 2014), “Having an addiction or recent history of substance misuse or being affected by substances excluded homeless people from many homelessness support services in the United States.” Most homeless people are suffering from mental health illness and are reported to have other wide range of issues. Reading about all these reasons about why people go homeless or are homeless, social worker in this field will have to be strong advocates, empathetic and very resourceful and how they deliver services to this population. Author Stephanie Hartwell made another reference of Burt et al 2007 book that “homeless family are most often female headed and cared for through benefits and social services. Single homeless adult and those coupled with other adults are less amenable to social services and more likely to be literally or chronically homeless” (Hartwell 2002). It is difficult to find shelter for a couple who are homeless in the county I live in. Most often they have to be separated and sent to different places. But services are provided for every family who shows up at the shelter with a child or children. The shelters will often use or make accommodation for a family with children as compared to individuals or single couples with no children. Social workers have to be resourceful in allocating social services benefits to families who are homeless. Advocating for families with mother and children is great but it should also have similar effect with other individuals. Identify types of skills and knowledge you want/need to develop in order to effectively work with this population/problem. Working with this population a social worker a social work must develop his communicating, active listening, problem solving, critical thinking, interviewing, resourcefulness and having a good sense of cross-cultural awareness. A social worker must be knowledgeable of the issues the homeless face and be mindful of some challenges social worker will face. Also working with this population, a social worker must remember that “One of the most important objectives of social work is to help people obtain needed resources” (Kirst-Ashman & Grafton, 2018). Being knowledgeable of your community resources will help served this population. Most homeless individual suffers from mental illness and connecting them to service like outpatient mental health clinic and assisting them with permanent housing. A social worker should be able communicate well both speaking and writing in a situation where he/she has to advocate for the homeless a city council meeting. Have a great understanding of advocacy will serve this population well. Support this paper with 3 sources, including from the Learning Resources throughout this course and information found in the Walden Library.

References Kim, N. J., Lin, J., Hiller, C., Hildebrand, C., & Auerswald, C. (2023). Analyzing US tweets for stigma against people experiencing homelessness. Stigma and Health, 8(2), 187–195. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000251 Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Jr., G.H. H. (2017). Empowerment series: understanding generalist practice (8th ed.). Cengage Learning US. Hartwell, S. (2002). Helping America's Homeless: Emergency Shelter or Affordable Housing? Contemporary Sociology, 31(2), 175-176. https://doi.org/10.2307/3089503 . PBS NewsHour. Input from the unhoused may be crucial solution to homelessness in San Francisco. (2021, January 1). NewsHour Productions LLC. Cox, L. E., Tice, C. J., & Long, D. D. (2019). Introduction to Social Work: An Advocacy-Based Profession (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc. Fries, L., Fedock, G., & Kubiak, S. P. (2014). Role of Gender, Substance Use, and Serious Mental Illness in Anticipated Postjail Homelessness. Social Work Research, 38(2), 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svu014 Julaine Allan PhD & Michael Kemp PhD (2014): The Prevalence and Characteristics of Homelessness in the NSW Substance Treatment Population: Implications for Practice, Social Work in Health Care, 53:2, 183-198. Growing up in Cameroon in west Africa the word “Homeless” was never in my vocabulary. Those you find sleeping on the streets side where people with mental health problems whom in pigin English we called “Craze people”. Though this homeless population exist in my town of Kumba, family and friends will come out to help meet their needs.

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