Social Work Techniques
Synopsis
The present volume intends an incursion into some key techniques of social work practice. Using arguments of social epistemology, the author introduces an overview of the case work and brings to attention important aspects of social work counseling. The reader is challenged to explore methodological aspects of counseling and is encouraged to practice the use of NLP techniques during the nondirective interview, which is able to lead to a change focused on the strengths of the client. Putting into relation the main occupations used in assistance-work creates the complex context of inter and multidisciplinary approach of social work practice, recognizing the border aspect of the discipline. The whole approach proposed by the author is filtered by the ethical character of social intervention directed towards the promotion of individual rights and having as central concept the quality of life. This is not viewed as an abstract concept, but as a source of operational indicators relevant to individual existence. To validate social work as applied science, the author brings into focus epistemological arguments adapted to the requirements and demands of this field. Review of various theories in social work is used just to emphasize the complexity of the social approach and practice. Changing client's situation is approached from the perspective of needs-resources relationship and represents a successful attempt to combine the two perspectives. The author predicts different relationships that can be made at the level of client's needs and of personal, organizational and community resources. Keeping the line drawn by the case work, the author explores different models of counseling in social work. Seen as a technique and not a purpose in itself, counseling is regarded as a specific form of intervention able to introduce a change through the client's involvement and changing his reference frame. The types of counseling offered by the author managed to capture different intervention models, dependent on different theories of intervention. Focusing on the problem and keeping the focus on the “deficiency paradigm” introduces the classic counseling model presentation that begins with awareness by the client of the existence of the problem and its dimensions, going through successive phases such as exploration of strategies to resolve the problem, choosing strategy, implementing the decision and evaluation of results. To counteract this paradigm, the author presents applications of Neuro Linguistic Programming in counseling, managing to highlight “the perspective of strengths”. With the guidelines from NLP assertions, the author supports the readers through examples of this new guidelines, each time bringing strong arguments of this type of counseling. It is remarkable how these processes of NLP are infused in the counseling technique in social work, representing an opportunity for practitioners to experiment and develop this direction. We can notice the author’s initiative to achieve this synthesis for the reader in Romania, where the bibliography in NLP is fairly low. To complete the practicality of the approach, the author proposes a set of instruments used in social work; even their simple overview is an advantage for social work practitioners who can build significant guiding marks generating social practice. In the last part of the paper, the author switches from individual intervention to the collective or group intervention by approaching social programs so useful in the practice of social work, showing the main phases of such a design programs. Instead of conclusion, we consider that the authorial intent can meet the needs of practitioners in the field of social work and can be a useful reading for opening new approaches to intervention and social change.
Chapters
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Foreword
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Social Work as a Factor in Ensuring the Functionality of Social Systems
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Chapter 2 - Social Epistomology
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Chapter 3 - Qualitative Research vs Quantitative Research in Social and Communication Sciences
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Chapter 4 - Qualitative Research in Social and Communication Sciences
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Chapter 5 - Grounded Theory
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Chapter 6 - Social Work as Science
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Chapter 7 - Counseling in Social Work
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Chapter 8 - Ethical Principles in the Counseling Process in Social Work
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Chapter 9 - Social Work Based on Strengths
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Chapter 10 - Appreciative Intelligence and the Method of Success Stories
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Chapter 11 - Social Program Model within the Community
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Chapter 12 - Management Through Projects in the Development of Ethnocultural Communities
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Chapter 13 - Project Model in the Field of Multicultural Inter-Ethnic Communities
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References
Published
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License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
