Social work Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Social work - Essay Example The beauty of both theories is that both, almost in the same way, believe in the clients’ desire to solve the problems, and both aim to improve the problem solving skills of the clients, thus promoting independence instead of dependency. The Applicability with Diverse Groups The beauty of these two approaches, according to Hepworth, Rooney and GD Rooney et al (2009, p. 364) is their applicability with different groups, especially the poor, minority and ethnocultural groups. This is largely because they emphasise on the right of clients to identify issues and focus on empowering the marginalised clients. In addition, they are helpful in removing the barriers to multicultural clinical practices as they largely accept the clients’ view of problems. However, the advantage of crisis intervention strategy and task centered approach is their use with different populations. Researchers like James (2008, p. 39) are of the belief that crisis intervention has universal application to people of color as it is common for people of color to experience crisis and due to barriers of culture, ethnicity, and racism. By the time they seek help, the issue will be in a chronic state. This approach has six stages namely: defining the problem, ensuring client safety, providing support, examining alternatives, making plans, and obtaining commitment (ibid). Now, it becomes evident that both the approaches are highly beneficial tools in social work as both believe in the centeredness of individuals and both are based on the theory of empowering the clients to manage their situation themselves, thus promoting independence instead of dependency. Below are certain features that make these approaches more preferable in social situations. The Patient Centeredness Both the approaches are patient-centered in nature. The task centered approach believes in the ability of the clients to solve their problems themselves or to ameliorate their issues to a tolerable level. The task cent ered approach is based on the assumption that most people possess adequate skills and resources to solve their problems themselves. In addition, it is believed that people have their innate desire to solve their problems. Problems arise in individual, family or social spheres that can block the resolution of problems. The task centered approach believes that people have the inborn capabilities to solve their problems or to remodel the situation to a tolerable level. Similarly, crisis intervention method too is based on the assumption that intervention becomes necessary when an individual is not able to manage the disorganisation and confusion caused by a crisis. This too accepts the fact that crisis can arise in families, groups, communities, and nations. In fact, both the approaches concentrate on empowering the patient, improving the level of functioning, and developing a place for handling crisis. In addition, both believe in the active participation of clients and both are short -term in nature. The purpose of the two approaches is to regain the lost equilibrium in the client’s life. The specialty of these approaches is the total participation of the clients in the procedure, and the success of the approaches is fully dependent on the client’s readiness to perform the tasks they are assigned. In both the cases, once the tasks and goals are set, there are regular meetings to monitor progress and to offer support in the effort to achieve the goals. The skills at this juncture required for a social