Building on lectures, assigned reading, class discussion, and the earlier assignments, students will write a 5-10 page paper that demonstrates the knowledge, values and skills they have developed and/or enhanced that will allow them to engage clients with difficult situations and work with them to identify their problems.
The instructor assumes that you understand that the engagement is the point in the planned change process that the social worker begins to utilize the professional relationship to help clients change. Indeed, the relationship is the medium through which social workers carryout the profession’s purposes. The instructor also assumes that you understand that assessment is both an objective and an outcome designed to capture information that will lead to an intervention plan that will help the client resolve the problem(s) that brought him/her to the agency.
You should address the following:
Identifying Information
Provide basic demographic information about your client (disguised to protect the person’s identity),
The agency context in which you are conducting the assessment, and your role in that setting. (1 paragraph in length)
Also provide some basic demographic information about yourself to show what you bring to this encounter since you and your background are part of the interaction. (length approximately 1/2 page)
Biopsychosocial Assessment (3-5 pages in length)
Include visual assessment tool (genogram or ecomap, etc)
Observational Data
Describe the person’s initial appearance, affect, and behavior? (1 paragraph)
What did you notice about this person’s interactions with others and communication patterns with others? (1 paragraph)
Assessment/Goals (length 2 pages)
Present a brief summary of your client assessment.
What is this person doing well and wanting to sustain or enhance? (include 2 client strengths)
What issues or problems need to be addressed?
What are the expressed goals for your work with this client? Describe goals as specifically and concretely as possible. Consider goals that are feasible for the amount of time you have with the client(s).
Have you prioritized goals, based on urgency or importance?
Can you identify short-term and longer-term goals?
Do goals represent change at intrapersonal, interpersonal, or environmental levels?
Roles and Responsibilities (1/2-1 page in length)
What will your role be in this situation?
What are your responsibilities?
To which people and systems are you accountable, and in what ways?
Intervention (Select one intervention from the assessment/goal section above and expand on it in this section, linking it with a theory)
What intervention options might be useful, in light of identified goals?
What theories inform and support your thinking about intervention options?
Out of the intervention options you present, which intervention(s) have you chosen? Why?
What do you identify as potential (or actual) barriers to, your intervention plan? How will you anticipate addressing these issues?
How will you evaluate progress toward goals? (think about a measurement tool like you selected for Assignment 3)
Relationship Challenges (1-2 paragraphs)
How do you imagine the relationship with the client will develop?
Can you identify or anticipate any relational issues that may come up?
The paper should be written in APA style with 12-point font and 1 inch margins.
