Case Summary

This assignment is designed for students to build and apply social work skills to assist a client system drawn from a case study to experience positive change. The engagement and assessment strategies should incorporate micro-mezzo-macro concerns and be based on the many theories that inform your practice, including the foundational Ecological (person-in-environment) Perspective and Critical Race theories. With this case summary you will demonstrate how you integrate practice while planning engagement and assessment strategies with clients/client systems. You will need to identify a client/client system from the scenario and use the client/client system, including members of family, neighborhood, and greater community, to complete the two parts of this case summary.

Make the assessment based on this Scenario; Please do not hesitate to make reasonable assumptions to complete your understanding of practice. If you make assumptions, check yourself in the process to be sure you are not working on cultural stereotypes. Please keep in mind that you are an intern working on this case summary.

 

SCENARIO: Client Ms. Victoria Page was referred to independent living at Lower Eastside Service Center by her social worker after staying in a domestic shelter. The initial session shows that she has been trying to cope with the physical abuse since she still loves her ex-husband. The client was married for 7 years before filing for divorce. She came in with a black eye and was hysterical. However, she fears for her life. She was unprepared to move out or involve law enforcement to prevent the abuses. Instead, the findings show that she was in a support group at a local community center and did not give her actual name for fear of getting her husband in trouble. In her current session, she has explained that her only family member is her sister due to being isolated from her family by her ex-husband. Ms. V has expressed that she finds comfort from her support group and wants to maintain her participation. Client needs income and could benefit from governmental assistance such as social security (SSI). The client has two twin daughters who are 10 years old, and her sister has custody of her children. Client suffers from depression and uses alcohol as her copying mechanism. Due to her current mental state, the client lost her job working at a bank and felt hopeless. The client’s sister is who recommended client to start changing her life for the sake of her children. The client’s goal is to be able to receive help. Client wants to be able to receive income, attend AA meetings to help remain sober, build a better relationship with her daughter and be able to reconnect with her family. Client is currently residing in the Bronx NY.

 

Assignment:

Part A: Engagement and Problem Identification Within Part A please include the following:

Description of the client/client system, including the following identifying information

• Demographics

• Presenting concern (why is client/client system working with a social worker?)

• Relationship to family and family influence

• Community and community influences

• Organization/agency policies and procedures that inform practice with the client/client system

Description of the engagement process with the client/client system

• In what capacity have you come to know client/client system (community meeting, referral, case assignment, etc.)?

• What is the basis/purpose of your work with the client/client system (community organizing/advocacy, case management, colleague, counselling, etc.)?

• What biases might you have about this client? What biases might the client have of you?

• Describe, using theory to inform practice, your plan for engaging with the client/client system and outlining the ongoing work

• Provide a timeline of engagement

• Identify specific social work skills and techniques using in the engagement process (active listening, empathy, validating, etc.)

• What data have you collected in your initial work with the client/client system that suggests the quality of your engagement?

• Does the client/client system appear fully engaged in the work? If not fully engaged, what barriers may make it difficult for the client/client system to relate to you or your organizational context?

• Does the client bear, perhaps, a weariness or wariness based on experiences of structural oppression (racism, sexism, classism ageism, ableism, etc.) that would inform concerns about engagement with you or with the organization, or with both?

• Is the plan for working with client/client system formal (written as a contract) or informal (verbal)?

Part B: Assessment Students will complete the assessment portion of the assignment based on their Field role as an intern within the agency. Micro, mezzo, and macro contexts must all be analyzed in an anti-racist, integrated practice approach to assessment. To the best of your understanding, include the following information about the client/client system, from the point of view of one client within the client system:

In detail describe the sources of data that support your assessment of the client

• Describe principal sources for learning about the client/client system (interviews, case notes, direct conversations, community interactions, secondary sources, etc.)

• How directly is the client/client system involved in data collection? Is the data collection a formal or informal process?

Micro assessment Select one client from the client system to assess in completion of this assignment, using a biopsychosocial structure for the assessment.

For your biopsychosocial assessment, include the following elements in detail (please note that there may be some repetition from Part A if you are writing on an individual client):

• Client description

• Physical development, health, and basic biological health and functioning

• Cognitive/developmental functioning (Piaget)

• Psychosocial development, current psychosocial functioning (Erikson, Gilligan, Bowlby, Mahler, etc.)

• Social interaction (family, peers, colleagues, community)

• Spiritual and moral development (Kohlberg) and religious affiliations, if any

• Socioeconomic status, citizenship entitlements, etc. • Overall strengths and limitations

• Basic needs and access to resources (Maslow)

• Family description (composition, cohesion, relevant history/concerns)

• Housing (household composition, neighborhood, years in current housing, etc.)

• Education (where, when, formal level of completion, trades certificates, etc.)

• Employment (present and past experience)

• Health history (physical and mental, substance use, hospitalizations, etc.)

• Protected population (examples of diversity and potential oppression)

Mezzo assessment Identify a small group (not just a family) from the client system to assess in completion of this assignment. Including the follow to complete your mezzo assessment of the client system.

• Access and resources gained through mutual aid (Shulman)

• Social group strengths/limitations, e.g. collective.

• Spiritually- and/or morally uniting religious affiliations/development (Kohlberg) Socioeconomic status, citizenship entitlements, etc.

• Attainment of basic needs and access to resources (Maslow)

• Housing, Education, Employment connections

• Social interaction (formal and informal social climate within the local community)

• Local environment/environmental factors (quality of housing, jobs, food access, air/water, etc.)

Macro assessment Describe the client system by analyzing the following components of the client system’s community. This will require your assessment and research of the community in which the client/client system resides/engages in:

• Culture and demographics of the wider community

• Resources available in the wider community

• Social freedom and resources in the wider community

• General environment of town, municipality, etc. (quality of housing, jobs, food access, air/water, etc.)

• Civic cohesion

• Formal (access to and use of entitlements and subsidies, access to healthcare, access to affordable housing, access to quality food, etc.)

• Informal (social integration within the community (McMillan & Chavis)

• Political climate and circumstances affecting the wider community (voting rate, civic engagement opportunities.

Genogram Complete and attach a genogram to illustrate selected individual client’s position in relation to family and close friends, and a community genogram to illustrate client in relation to neighborhood and wider community. Format Requirements: The Case Summary should be 6-8 pages, including a minimum of 5 references, written in APA style. Note that references should include peer-reviewed articles and chapters that describe overarching theory (Critical Race, Ecological Perspective), particular theory (e.g. Piaget, Erikson, Bowlby, Feminist, Intersectionality, Conflict), and sociological/anthropological (e.g. that speak to the culture, norms and values of the client/client system)