Placement of Masters of Community services Assessment Answer

Integrating Classroom Learning with Client Work

There are numerous challenges that a caseworker encounters while doing their job. As a caseworker you must have an understanding of good communication skills and how to interact with clients to make them feel comfortable and free so that they can openly discuss their problems with you. It is also important to combine this skill with a good listening skill. According to Kwame and Petrucka (2021), providing these services that respect the victim’s needs and requirements is crucial in getting the desired outcomes. A caseworker has to be professional at all times, they need to be aware of their duties and roles throughout the process and must make the victims feel safe to communicate with them. Family violence cases can be gruesome to hear. It is the responsibility of family violence caseworkers to provide a safe environment to the victims of family violence without making them feel judged. At first, I found it a little difficult to balance my emotions after hearing the horrendous cases of violence within families in Australia. However, I had to overcome this challenge by adopting the skills to adapt a person-centred approach and develop a problem solving mechanism as per the requirements of each victim.

During my classroom learning I very well understood the concepts of effective communication and listening skills however, when I was placed in the practical world, I faced challenges in the application of these skills. In such cases of family violence the victims are often hesitant to share their experiences with the caseworkers. The hesitation could be a result of shame, lack of trust or a fear of being judged. Therefore, it demands a safe and a non judgemental environment where the victims can talk freely, this might take some time to develop. It also poses a challenge when the victim has an issue while framing their feelings into words, making it difficult to understand their feelings and concerns. I realised the sensitivity of this problem and polished my communication skills to facilitate a better understanding of the needs and concerns of the victims of family violence.

In addition to this, we must also be ethical while taking care of the victims and must be aware of our obligations. It is our responsibility as family violence case workers that we must report the incidents of family violence such a child abuse and domestic violence as and when they occur without any delay. It is also important to follow due diligence procedures so that our actions do not adversely affect the victims and their families.

Apart from that, being able to create and maintain a balance between professional ethics and conduct and empathy for the victims has been a challenge. This has impacted my mental and emotional health and even resulted in a burn-out. Collins (2021) in their study have highlighted the importance of self care in social workers while being aware of the harmful effects of excessive focus on social work. Therefore, to resolve this challenging issue, I had to focus on self care practices and seeking support and guidance from my colleagues and seniors when required.

I deeply enjoy my work as a caseworker since it gives me a sense of compassion and care. Even though I have faced many challenges throughout my journey, it has motivated me to carry out my duties with extensive care and diligence to align with the broader goals of family violence social service,which is to protect the victims and ensure their wellbeing. It has encouraged me to understand the pain and suffering that the victims go through and thus, become a better human being in general.

Challenges During Fieldwork Placement: Responses and Learning

While working as a Support Coordinator in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia I faced many challenges. The NDIS aims to work to support people with permanent and significant disability that affects their ability to participate in their day-to-day tasks (The Australian Government, n.d.). These challenges and problems required me to polish my skill set with respect to my problem-solving abilities and my behaviour towards the victims. This reflection addresses the challenges I faced during my encounters with critical events and how I effectively overcame them in the process.

While working as a Support Coordinator in the NDIS, I had to witness many cases of victims being shamed for their disabilities and their distinct appearances. One such event that I remember vividly is when one of the victims was bullied in his neighbourhood due to his inability to walk like others. This was majorly because he was not able to sustain in the housing society due to his poor financial conditions.

The victim felt neglected by the society at large which eventually made him depressed. Upon meeting him, I realised that I will have to gain his trust first to make him feel comfortable to freely share his feelings about the event that has affected him so deeply. It made me realise that my empathetic behaviour towards the client plays a crucial role to gain his trust and make him feel comfortable and safe to discuss the situation. I used the skills I gained during my past placement and utilised them to address the situation in the best ways possible. Eventually, this resulted in better communication with the client and we could effectively understand his needs and requirements.

After communicating with the client about the event of bullying and its impact on him, I could easily identify the areas of issue. I could understand that the situation required an effective problem-solving technique to resolve the issue from the roots. This demanded considering a wide range of factors such as the confidentiality of the client, addressing his financial needs and requirements and spreading awareness among people against such acts of bullying. In furtherance of this, I sought advice from my colleagues, mentors and other professionals in the field. This collaboration of thoughts and ideas helped me employ the remedial processes in the most effective way. This solution oriented mechanism has helped me resolve such challenges successfully throughout the course of my service (Stroh, 2015).

Not only that, this event made me realise the significance of compassion towards people and self-improvement and self-awareness. As a professional these events have made me more professional than I was in the start. I have now developed the necessary skills to adapt to the unique yet disturbing situations and gather solutions to such problems to meet the needs and requirements of the clients to help them with the problems they face in their everyday life.

Community Service Tasks During Fieldwork

The role of social workers has been significantly important in influencing the communities. Their role includes crisis management, providing support to the victims and empowering them to face the challenges and seek new opportunities. It also requires personal interaction and effective communication skills (Florida State University, 2020). I was involved in a wide range of community services and human services related activities. These activities directly benefited the clients of the agency. They further enabled me to offer support and empower the needs of the clients. This made me able to contribute to the well-being of the people I worked with and society in general.

As a Support Coordinator one of the major parts of my duty was to conduct interviews of the new clients enrolling with the NDIS program in Australia established under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act (2013). In this process, I was indulged in an extensive assessment of these new clients to gain an insight into their individual needs, objectives and issues. The experience enabled me to understand their individual needs and offer them with the best possible solutions that caters to their needs and requirements. One such instance was when I was working with a client who had recently become a disabled and was facing issues with understanding what the NDIS program was and how it worked. In pursuance of making him understand the intrinsic details about the program, I conducted an assessment to identify his needs of therapeutic services and mobility aids. I further collaborated with the representatives of the NDIS scheme to make sure that the support plan that I had formulated for the client was appropriately structured.

I further made them aware of the aims and objectives of the NDIS program towards people with disabilities. These aims and objectives included supporting the autonomy and social and economic participation of people with disability; providing required support to the participants; enabling people with disability to practise choice of control towards their goals and facilitating the development of a nationally consistent approach to the access to, and the planning and funding of, supports for people with disability (Buckmaster, 2007). Another such incident that I had to encounter as a Support Coordinator in the NDIS was empowering the clients through my interactions with them. While interviewing them, I identified their concerns and tried to empathetically understand their insecurities. This approach helped me to empower them during our discussions and make them realise the importance of their autonomy to make their own decisions while offering support. This facilitated in achieving better and desired outputs with much ease. The clients eventually felt motivated and encouraged which helped them to work towards their personal goals.

Therefore, I can say that the activities that I performed as a Support Coordinator in the NDIS program helped the clients benefit from the support I had offered them. It not only made them feel that their concerns were addressed and their unique needs were met but also it enhanced the quality of life they were living. Besides that, these services allowed me to interact with a wide range of clients with specific needs and personal characteristics, this helped me polish my necessary skills like effective communication and problem-solving.

Fieldwork Supervision and Support

My growth as a community worker in my fieldwork has been significantly influenced by the direct interaction and guidance from my seniors and agency staff throughout. This was specially the case in the context of developing my communication skills and my interpersonal interactions with the people (Haney, 1979). The advancement in my professional approach has been greatly affected by my understanding of how to handle such situations and the challenges that arise out of them. It further made me aware that my own behaviour can affect or trigger the behaviour of my clients, eventually affecting their interactions with me.

Furthermore, in the process, I realised that my communication must be intentional with them. My body posture and my presenting skills play a major role in creating a safe environment for the clients. A practitioner must behave in a friendly and approachable manner that does not make the client feel judged or triggered so as to enable a productive mechanism towards providing them the required support. Moreover, it also made me realise that following professional ethics and conduct is also important as a social practitioner.

As far as receiving feedback is concerned, I have developed a positive outlook on it. In the present scenario, I use feedback as an effective tool to enhance and improve my approaches and techniques to address and resolve the situation. During my experience as a caseworker I have understood the significance of constructive feedback and now I take it as an opportunity to get better rather than being affected by them as a judgement of my skills. I have started paying careful attention to the inputs provided by others and try to accommodate the relevant idea while making necessary adjustments. This made me enhance my collaboration skills.

With reference to addressing conflict, I have now developed a problem-solving mindset. My experience as a coworker has expanded with time. This has acquainted me with the varied events that occur in society. Throughout my journey, I have faced many challenges and have effectively found ways to overcome them. This has enabled and acquainted me with different situations. It further gave me a perspective on how to face and tackle these challenges to best address the needs and concerns of my clients. Effective communication and openness to new adjustments is the key to resolve conflicts in an efficient and effective manner (Moore, 2014).

In my experience as a caseworker I have also come across situations that made me realise the relevance and significance of being self aware about my behaviour that might eventually affect my interactions with the client. During my fieldwork as a caseworker, I realised that I must not appear to be sleepy, sluggish or ill. As per Pfeiffer (1998), these traits may hinder effective communication with the clients. I must not be rude to the victims as it might affect them or trigger them in many adverse ways. There must not be any bias while developing and formulating the solution models to help the clients and should always keep their best interest into consideration. Realising these aspects has effectively helped me to grow and develop in my field as a caseworker and help the clients as per their needs. Not only that it has facilitated a better understanding of the significance of interaction, support and communication skills required in the field of work.

Professional Growth and Future Direction in Community Services

While reflecting on my professional development I can say that my experience in the fieldwork has been a life-changing experience that has significantly facilitated the enhancement of my growth in my career as a community service worker. As suggested by O’Hara and Pockett (2011), professionals must also be diligent, mindful and respectful of the trusting relationship with their clients. Thus, it has enabled me to easily recognise my capabilities, behaviours and the ambitions that have changed since my past fieldwork experience. This experience has ultimately helped me improve my knowledge and skills in the field and has given me a new and a clear perspective on what I want to do in my future. Witnessing the stories has also helped me grow on an emotional level and be more compassionate towards others.

This has further helped me realise the importance of self-care and resolving past traumas to address the unresolved personal issues. It is crucial to be engaged in wellness activities such as engaging ourselves in recreational activities and creating healthy boundaries between professional and personal lives. It has also motivated me to seek help and guidance from my colleagues and supervisors when in need to get effective results without letting the distressing situations affect my mental health or performance as a social service worker (Collins, 2021).

Tracing my journey from my last fieldwork experience, I have come to realise that I have grown to be a skilled community service worker. My capabilities to determine and formulate the solution plans keeping in mind the specific needs and requirements of each client have increased considerably. The fieldwork has provided me with an opportunity to actually apply the classroom knowledge that I acquired in the beginning of my journey. I also got a chance to utilise the advice and support provided by my supervisor and gave me the necessary exposure to deal with a wide range of clients to understand the impact of my techniques in the process. Ultimately, enhancing my skills and driving me to progress (Williams et al., 2022).

Although I have identified certain areas that require further improvement. For instance, I have realised that there is room for improvement with respect to the practical application of the legislations and policies in this regard to effectively resolve the detailed and intrinsic complexities faced by the clients. In furtherance of improving these areas, I plan to polish my knowledge of appropriate legislations and policies to offer improved support and guidance to the clients in achieving their goals.

Moving forward, I have realised that I want to continue my career as a community service worker. I have especially been fascinated by roles in policy advocacy and program development to address the challenges and loopholes in the system. In pursuance of this, I plan on taking advanced classes and courses, attending seminars that focus on policy analysis and community interactions. I further intend to work closely with organisations and institutions that work towards the same goals as mine and enhance my knowledge in my field of interest. 

In the end, I would say that my experience in the fieldwork setup has played a significant role in ascertaining how I grow in my profession as a community service worker. The challenges and rewards of my career have contributed to my overall growth and developed and have motivated me to hone my skills and to positively help people which is a heartfelt need of the hour. 

References

Buckmaster, L. (2007). The National Disability Insurance Scheme: A Quick Guide. Parliament of Australia. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1617/Quick_Guides/NDIS

Collins, S. (2021). Social workers and self-care: A promoted yet unexamined concept?. Practice , 33 (2), 87-102. https://doi.org/10.1080/09503153.2019.1709635

Florida State University. (2020, July 27). The social worker role and impact on the community. Florida State University. https://onlinemsw.fsu.edu/blog/social-worker-role

Haney, W. V. (1979). Communication and interpersonal relations . Homewood, IL: Irwin.

Kwame, A., & Petrucka, P. M. (2021). A literature-based study of patient-centered care and communication in nurse-patient interactions: barriers, facilitators, and the way forward. BMC nursing , 20 (1), 1-10. https://bmcnurs.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12912-021-00684-2

Moore, C. W. (2014). The mediation process: Practical strategies for resolving conflict . John Wiley & Sons. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://books.google.com/books%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26id%3D34wfAwAAQBAJ%26oi%3Dfnd%26pg%3DPR9%26dq%3DMoore,%2BC.%2BW.%2B(2014).%2BThe%2Bmediation%2Bprocess:%2BPractical%2Bstrategies%2Bfor%2Bresolving%2Bconflict.%2BJohn%2BWiley%2B%2526%2BSons.%26ots%3DDik3SMXdLk%26sig%3DXIHFngPSGCXZDgKXIiS4Dld4VsA&hl=en&sa=T&oi=gsb&ct=res&cd=0&d=12124547035634642749&ei=lrjcZI7PCJn0yAS37a2oCQ&scisig=AFWwaeZum86E68dpNz8N6Oo3Kurd

National Disability Insurance Scheme: Department of Social Services, Australian Government. (n.d.). www.dss.gov.au. https://www.dss.gov.au/disability-and-carers/programmes-services/for-people-with-disability/national-disability-insurance-scheme#:~:text=The%20National%20Disability%20Insurance%20Scheme

National Disability Insurance Scheme Act, 2013. https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2013A00020

O'hara, A., and Pockett. R. (2011). Skills for Human Service Practice : Working with Individuals, Groups and Communities . Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pfeiffer, J. W. (1998). Conditions that hinder effective communication. The Pfeiffer Library , 6 (2), 400-456. http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/conditions_that_hinder_effective_communications_-_2nd_edition_1998.pdf

Stroh, D. P. (2015). Systems thinking for social change: A practical guide to solving complex problems, avoiding unintended consequences, and achieving lasting results . Chelsea Green Publishing. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://books.google.com/books%3Fhl%3Den%26lr%3D%26id%3DN1uZCgAAQBAJ%26oi%3Dfnd%26pg%3DPA1%26dq%3DStroh,%2BD.%2BP.%2B(2015).%2BSystems%2Bthinking%2Bfor%2Bsocial%2Bchange:%2BA%2Bpractical%2Bguide%2Bto%2Bsolving%2Bcomplex%2Bproblems,%2Bavoiding%2Bunintended%2Bconsequences,%2Band%2Bachieving%2Blasting%2Bresults.%2BChelsea%2BGreen%2BPublishing.%26ots%3Du-FEOsZpPu%26sig%3DTPj8G7gGNF1eeKiJ9JtGv4QlLeA&hl=en&sa=T&oi=gsb&ct=res&cd=0&d=3649895824047917965&ei=rr_cZOvNDuyEywSarZKoBw&scisig=AFWwaeYP4GjJwJ5DS2lqmZ5LKTXQ

Williams, V. N., McManus, B. M., Brooks‐Russell, A., Yost, E., Allison, M. A., Olds, D. L., & Tung, G. J. (2022). A qualitative study of effective collaboration among nurse home visitors, healthcare providers and community support services in the United States. Health & Social Care in the Community , 30 (5), 1881-1893. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hsc.13567

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