Respond to the blog posts of three colleagues in one or more of the following ways:
Expand on your colleagues posting.
Validate an idea in your colleagues post with your own experience.
Colleague1: Katherine
Potential Assessment Challenges
During my process as a clinical intern at Asheville Academy for Growth, there have been a few assessment challenges. At times, teens and adolescents may not give accurate answers when self-reporting in an assessment. This can be to a variety of different reasons. It is common within this age group to war story, or romanticize risky behaviors as well as escalate the truth of what happened. At the same time, I have experienced an adolescent during an intake assessment curtail their past experiences or behaviors in order to try and prove that they did not need to be in the program, and could go home. This happened in an intake assessment that I facilitated. The new student answered no to any questions regarding substance use, running away, as well as self-harm. In the parents and past schools reports, she had ran away multiple times in the past year, stolen substances from her parent’s veterinary practice, as well as had experienced a suicide attempt. Halfway through the intake, I closed my computer and told her that I know it can be really scary to be here on your first day, and I am not judging them with the answers they give. I brought them back to their group and let them know wed try again later that afternoon. After coming back a few hours later, she was crying and said she was trying to sound perfect so maybe her parents would pick her up.
On the other hand, parents or caregivers may minimize or maximize the presenting problems. Minimizing generally occurs when their childs symptoms are more extreme than what the program would usually accept, and their family wants them to get into this program. Though the admissions team focuses on in-depth assessments and speaks about the difficulties that can arise if not given accurate answers, families still tend to do this when in distress. Maximizing can also occur when parents and caregivers want to express how difficult things have been for their family and may be in an anxious state that the program needs to know how bad things have been for their child. One way that the program could help with this process, it to also utilize a Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire that both the parent or caregivers and child completes. With the knowledge that self-reporting may not always be accurate, recent research focused on the accuracy of a SDQ parent and child assessment. The study consisted of 500 children and their families, with an average age of 13.5 years old. The assessment was given to parents and children separately and was found clinically evident that it is valid for the detection of emotional and behavioral problems in adolescents ages 11-17 (Theunissen et al., 2019). Throughout my time at AAG, I have been personally utilizing the SDQ with families and youth within the program. I do believe it would be beneficial to implement it during the admissions and intake process.
References
Theunissen, M. H. C., de Wolff, M. S., & Reijneveld, S. A. (2019). The strengths and difficulties questionnaire self-report: A valid instrument for the identification of emotional and behavioral problems. Academic Pediatrics, 19(4), 471476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acap.2018.12.008
Colleague 2: Jennifer
An explanation of potential challenges for assessment during your field education experience
I have been a social worker working in the field of social work for the past 12 years. I have had many different encounters with clients that have challenged me in my work as a social worker. A common challenge that I have encountered with my different clients is my ability to be honest when sharing personal information. For example, in my previous work in child welfare I would have clients that were struggling with issues with parenting or struggle with other issues such as dealing with substances, homelessness, or domestic violence. Sometimes I would have difficulty in developing a bond with my client due to their resistance in wanting to share information with me. Sometimes a client would ask me if I ever had an issue with illegal substances, did I ever spank my child a leave a bruise before, or if I had ever had a partner who abused me. I, like many others in the field of social work, are drawn to this field due to personal experiences that we may have experienced. While I feel that my ability to share certain personal information may help to build a rapport with my client, I choose not to share as much as I would like due to possibly making it a conflict at that point and also not wanting to involve my client in my personal life.
An explanation of personal action plans you might take to address assessment in your field education experience
Now that I am in Hospice setting, I tend to share a bit more information with my patient and their families compared to when I was working in child welfare. For example, I have shared with my clients that my mother was a hospice patient at the facility that I am currently doing my field work at. By sharing this information, I feel that I can offer a sense of understanding and can empathize with my clients in their pre-anticipatory grief. It can show the family members, that I have been able to find ways to assist in my grief and I have been able to develop strategies to build healthy coping techniques. Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger state that it is important to recognize when a clients situation makes you feel uncomfortable. It is also important to set clear and consistent boundaries for yourself with the client in order to minimize challenging behaviors. (Birkenmaier & Berg-Weger, p. 139). Also, when situations get difficult, reach out to your supervisor and others in leadership for guidance.
Reference
Birkenmaier, J., & Berg-Weger, M. (2018). The practicum companion for social work: Integrating class and fieldwork (4th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Colleague 3: Iva
An explanation of potential challenges for assessment during your field education experience.
Regarding some challenges regarding the assessment, one could be communication barriers when working with the client. The clients behavior could be a challenge when it comes to doing their assessment. Birkenmaier and Berg-Weger (2018) state regardless of the client issue that triggered your reaction to the situation, working with challenging client behaviors can result in powerful learning. (p. 139) Birkenmaier and Berg-Weger (2018) state among the most challenging situations in social work practice are those involving ethical questions, issues, or dilemmas. Other challenges when it comes to working with clients could be the mental status of that client and some of the challenges that have occurred to me. When working with clients have been language barriers and their motivation to complete the process to discharge successfully. When you conduct assessments for clients, this is to assist you in identifying the clients needs as well as personal developments and the client when comes the strength.
explanation of personal action plan you might take to address assessment in your field education experience.
The personal action plan that has assisted me in various ways regarding an assessment would be building a healthy rapport with the client. Marais and Merwe (2016) state that relationship-based social work is not new to social work practice. There is a call for social workers to return to interventions based on effective client engagement within a therapeutic relationship. (p.145). Marais and Merwe (2016) state expected to offer support, promote change, help with problem-solving, empower people and improve wellbeing while assessing the situation. (p. 145) As the social worker builds a rapport relationship, you must show support and empathy toward your client so that they know that you are actively listening and are interested in what the client is stating to you. Empathy will assist the client in understanding that their situation is crucial to you as the social worker.
