Socw 6530 wk 1 peer responses | SOCW 6530 – Social Work Field Education IV | Walden University

SOCW 6530 wk 1 peer responses 

Respond to the blog posts of three colleagues (you must write name of peer first then respond to each peer individually) in one or more of the following ways:

Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Validate an idea in your colleague’s post with your own experience.

Intext citations and full references after each response 

Peer 1: Wk1 Alicia Gomez 

A description of your field education experience, including your agency, the types of social services offered, and the population groups or clientele your agency serves

At Behavioral Health Services I have had the opportunity to engage in a parenting group, observe and engage in crisis responding, observe assessments and engage in system partner networking. It has been interesting to engage with clients in the clinic and in the community as the environments do impact the clients state of mind and levels of vulnerability. BHS is a branch within the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic within the agency there is medical services, dental services, optometry, WIC services and psychiatric services. Within BHS there are several smaller programs such as Behavioral Rehabilitation Services which is the foster care program. There is also Wraparound Intensive Services, Outpatient Services and as previously mentioned Psychiatric care. BHS serves clients from ages 5 years old and up although the program prioritizes children and extends services to established clients extended family. Clientele consists of minority families mostly of Hispanic or Native American descent and also Caucasian. Yakima Valley Farm Worker Clinic was intended for the agricultural worker population as indicated by the name of the agency. I have also enjoyed the many trainings that were available to me to prepare for engaging with clients in an informed and ethical manner. 

An explanation of how engagement occurs in your field education experience

Clients are referred to services by community partners their PCP, School counselors, DCYF social workers and by their direct family or selves. Clients under 13 years old must be registered by their legal guardian and those of 13 years of age or older can agree and engage in services on their own. An intake is done to identify diagnosis and appropriate therapist assignment. After intake the client, clinician and guardian develop a treatment plan to establish goals for therapeutic needs. A referral for medication management can be made with Psychiatry to stabilize the client during the therapeutic process. There is 24/7 crisis services available for clients as well when there is a mental health need after hours. In practicing the 9 core competencies on my learning agreement I have also had the opportunity to witness the power of empathy which as illustrated by Gerdes and Segal clients who experience empathy through treatment planning have improved outcomes (2011). The Agency slogan is “We are family” emphasizing the importance of treating everyone in the community with dignity, respect and compassion. 

Reference

Gerdes, K.E., & Segal, E. (2011). Importance of empathy for social work practice: Integrating new science. Social Work, 56(2), 141-148

PEER 2: Amber Hopf

A description of your field education experience, including your agency, the types of social services offered, and the population groups or clientele your agency serves

My field education experience has been good. I have been lucky to be able to get a full workload and to strengthen and improve my social work skills. Within my agency there are many services to provide clients within the community. However, I have been working within the foster care system providing supervised visits for biological parents and their children with the hopes of reunification of the children in the home.

On the other hand, I have just begun working with clinical clients and have been given multiple referrals to fill the rest of my case load. In doing so, I have been able to learn different social work skills as I have never worked in the foster care system. This experience has been a great learning experience in that sense. This agency works with all populations and ages. Thus, my caseload consists of families, adolescents, children as well as the professionals associated with these cases.

An explanation of how engagement occurs in your field education experience

Within this field experience there has been multiple opportunities for engagement. Engagement can include completion of the learning agreement (Laureate Education, 2013). For instance, engaging in the learning agreement allows interns to communicate with their supervisors to develop roles, outcomes and skills that they would like to improve on as well as strengthen. On the other hand, engagement can consist of interns being able to demonstrate social work skills (Laureate Education, 2013). This type of engagement can be seen as interns working with clients after creating learning agreement to meet their goals. In other words, interns utilize their learning agreements as a guide to use social work skills when working with clients.

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (2013b). Engagement [Audio file]. Retrieved from: https://class.waldenu.edu.

PEER 3: Audri Kaufman

A description of your field education experience, including your agency, the types of social services offered, and the population groups or clientele your agency serves

For my concentration year social work internship, I have elected to intern at a hospice agency, known as Valley’s Best Hospice, which provides hospice home health services to eligible patients living in the greater Los Angeles communities of Palmdale and Lancaster, CA. So far I am really enjoying the work I have been able to do for the agency and specifically for the patients on my current caseload. I find the work to be very rewarding and low-stress. Much of my patient-direct care involves assessing for needs, barriers, mental health concerns, and providing general case management and patient companionship care to my patients and family members. Educating patients and family members on death and dying and assessing for anticipatory grief symptoms is also a major part of hospice social work.

An explanation of how engagement occurs in your field education experience

So much of hospice care is centered around engagement. The use of empathy skills is necessary to build rapport and boost client engagement (Gerdes & Segal, 2011). When engagement skills such as empathy, listening skills, and effective communication skills are applied, hospice social works are better able to connect with their patients as well as the family members and complete a thorough psychosocial assessment of their needs.

Reference

Gerdes, K. E., & Segal, E. (2011). Importance of empathy for social work practice: Integrating new science. Social Work, 56(2), 141–148