Category: Free Essays

For this assignment I will explain personal values, prejudices, ethical dilemmas and the impact they have had on social work practice by reflecting on one of my beliefs and how I had to challenge myself to overcome it.

Using Marxists and Feminists views of oppression I aim to identify, recognise, respect and value diverse individuals for which I will give an example of which happened to me and how I had to challenge discrimination towards others.

I will also discuss theoretical frameworks to tackling oppression and discrimination by using the PCS model and how people can become empowered through groups, advocacy or legislation.

Personal values, Prejudices, Ethical Dilemmas, Conflict of Interest and their impact on Social Work Practice

A value is something that concerns someone or a belief they hold, this determines how a person behaves, values do not determine if something is said whether it is right or wrong in today’s society. However, a person’s belief’s can affect how they behave towards others.

“Prejudice is a term which has rather negative connotations and is normally taken to mean a hostile attitude towards a person or group”

(Billingham et al. 2008. Pg. 196)

One of my values and a prejudice of mine is that any job I am employed in will eventually go to people working in a foreign country, especially India. This all stems from when I worked for a third party credit card processor, after giving them nine years of service I was going to be made redundant and my job would be actioned from people in India. For the next two months I would have to train people from there all the applications I was currently or had worked on. This gave me a dilemma do tell them all the information I knew or just some of it? I had to be professional, so I gave them as much information on the applications for which I knew about, I even created user guides to aid with the training and they could use when I had left the company.

When talking to the people I found that we had things in common with each other and they were saddened that a person would lose their job. It wasn’t their fault I was being made redundant but the companies in which we worked for. I had successfully challenged the new belief that had risen from a sad situation.

“Values are only as good as the actions they prompt”

(Preston-Shoot, 1996. Pg 31)

When working with people from other countries I will need to put my own values and prejudices aside, as everyone deserves help and advice in their lives no matter where they come from in the world. If I fail to put my values and prejudices aside whilst working with them it will affect the help they will receive from me, I need to be open minded to all cultures. Thompson (2005) explains that there is a need for genuineness (congruence) to be achieved in social work, that a positive working relationship between service user and social worker is needed based on trust and respect for each other to develop.

Identify, Recognise, Respect and Value Diverse Individuals

Thompson (2006) describes discrimination as “to identify a difference and is not necessarily a negative term”. But when used in terms of legal, moral or in a political sense it is referred to as being unfair e.g. being unfairly treated for your sexuality or ethnic origin. If this occurs it can lead to a person being oppressed.

When looking at oppression from a Marxists view D’Amato claims that people are oppressed because of the class in which they live in, that women, homosexuals or people of non-white skin are subordinate to the Bourgeoisie and Capitalism is needed in society as it shapes and depends on oppression for its survival. Marxists argue that if racism, sexism or homophobia was to be embraced it will mean that a capitalist government would need to be overthrown and that oppression is essential to the struggle of socialism.

From a Radical Feminists view Zeiber (2008) argues that women are oppressed within the patriarchal system, that marriage and the family are a result of capitalism. Holmstrom (2003) speaks about Socialist Feminism, agreeing that women are oppressed by the dominance of men and of the economic inequality because of the positions of power males have within society.

I work on a farm where we often have Polish as well as British people working there. One year a colleague was making cruel jokes towards the Polish people, as others were making fun at their culture, and their Catholic beliefs were wrong. I could see that something was wrong, so I spoke to them; they told me they felt they were being discriminated against and started to feel very oppressed because they were not British.

Then I spoke to my manager about the situation which was happening and he left me to “deal” with. I had to think about how I was going to approach it so both parties would be happy with the outcome.

So I asked the perpetrator to come outside and talk with me. I told him that the Polish people were unhappy the way in which he was treating them. He was shocked as he thought they were all “having a laugh” with each other. It was hard for me to confront the perpetrator as it was my father, a man I looked up to.

Reflecting on what had happened I knew I had said the correct things to my father as they continued to work with each in harmony, not wanting to offend each other, enabling a good working environment for all.

Discrimination can be found in institutions like the church, prison or by a person in a position of power. It can be covertly actioned by using disguises like the Klu Klux Klan in USA wear masks concealing their identity or overtly actioned like apartheid in South Africa or the BNP in Britain.

Theoretical Frameworks for Understanding Discrimination and Oppression

Thompson (1997) shows how oppression can be analysed using the PCS model and there are three levels:

Personal (P) – an individual’s views e.g. prejudice against a group of people.

Cultural (C) – shared values between others, what is wrong or right, this in turn forms a consensus.

Structural (S) – how oppression of society is formed through institution who support cultural norms & personal beliefs e.g. religion, media or government.

Here is an example of the PCS model in action:

P: Young man in the club you work at makes offensive and derogatory comments about a gay man who attends also. He says that ‘gay people are not natural’ or ‘normal’.

C: Gay people largely repulse the community around him, and many of the community members are involved with the local church, holding firm views about ‘sexual morals’.

S: Popular tabloid media berates the ‘abnormal’ activities of gay people. Religious leaders of all faiths support the instatement of laws to stop equal rights for gay people. Legislation is passed by parliament that compromises the rights of gay, lesbian and bisexual people. There is an overwhelming ‘consensus’ of power used in all forms of structural life.

(Wood, J. 2001)

By using the PCS model it can help a person build an idea as to why others act the way they do e.g. the stereotype of a teenager wearing a hood, you believe they are trouble makers because of what the media have reported, but not every teenager is out for trouble.

Another theoretical framework to tackling oppression and discrimination is through empowerment.

By empowering someone means to enable a person to gain control over and taking responsibility for own their actions. The Humanistic approach by Carl Rogers (1959) encourages people to become empowered.

As student social workers we are taught about empowering the service user, to focus on their strengths and to work together as equals, we also need to safeguard vulnerable people, to take into account a person’s economic, political and cultural background at the same time.

Groups also work to empower people as they offer support and if they act as one they can become powerful. An example of this is from the Times Online dated June 13th 2007 ‘How football made us’ (see attachment 1), by forming a football team for mentally ill patients they each became empowered able to do things on their own without having help from others.

Make use of Strategies to Challenge Discrimination, Inequality and Injustice

There are strategies in place to help educate people about inequality, discrimination and injustice such as advocacy and legislation. As social workers we need to support and speak up for individuals that face being oppressed or discriminated against.

By using advocacy to represent those who are unable to speak up for themselves. E.g. have learning or communication difficulties. Walker (2008) advises that advocacy has it strengths but also has its weaknesses.

Strength from using advocacy are: People who have been socially excluded from mainstream society gain a voice, when a service user has a social worker who listens can be given confidence to speak for themselves, thus growing in self confidence and social workers can learn and understand more on how it feels to be disempowered when listening to a service user.

But the weaknesses are: there is a danger that the social worker can put their own views forward and not those views of the service user, the advocate can take over, thus the service user can become disempowered and the social worker may find that by using advocacy it can put them in conflict with the organisation in which the work for, their loyalties can become split.

The legislation in place is to help and protect people against inequality and discrimination, for example:

Equal Pay Acts 1970 & 1983 – prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex relating to pay and terms of contract.

Race Relations Act 1976 – prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, nationality or ethnic origin.

Later amended in 2000 to include a duty on public authorities in carrying out their duties to have due regard to eliminate unlawful discrimination and to promote equality.

(Brayne et al, 2010. Pg. 89-90)

The British Association of Social Work (BASW) has a code of ethics relating to how social workers must become more cultural aware. Paragraph 4.1.6 (pg. 49) states that as a social worker you will:

Recognise diversity among cultures and then recognise what the impact of their own cultural & ethnic identity can have on others.

Gain working knowledge and understanding of service users ethnic and cultural affiliations and the values, beliefs and customs associated with them, even though the service users may be different.

Communicate effectively in a language in which both parties will understand, if needs be then by using an independent interpreter.

By using the tools I have learnt through the course I will be able to challenge discrimination, inequality and oppression, I will be more open minded to people that need help from social services and no matter what their cultural background is I will be able to use this knowledge successfully.

Words used 1622

The 10 Essential Shared Capabilities are to set out the minimum requirements that all mental health services staff should possess as best practice. They are about relationships, behaviours, expectations and attitudes. They also allow service users and carers to be aware of what to expect from staff and services (NES 2006).

The 10 ESC’s are, working in partnership, respecting diversity, practising ethically, challenging inequality, promoting recovery, identifying people’s needs and strengths, providing service user-centred care, making a difference, promoting safety and positive risk taking and personal development and learning.

I will now give an overview of each of the above capabilities.

Working in Partnership involves working with service users their families and carers in a positive way to develop and maintain supportive relationships. Working this way helps people to make decisions and choices. (Edwards 2000). Whilst on placement when involved with service users who were starting treatment for Hepatitis C treatment it was very important to make them aware of how a good support network helps as this treatment can have an impact on everyday life causing flu-like symptoms, emotional issues, sleeping problems and loss of appetite. (Roche 2009).

Respecting Diversity is about providing care that makes a positive difference taking into account, age, race, culture, disability, gender, spirituality and sexuality. (The Scottish Government 2006). On placement within the Addiction Services it was very important not to discriminate any service user. There were many different people who attended the addiction team and it was imperative to treat them equally. According to NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (2009), we as nurses must try to eliminate discrimination and promote equality of opportunity for everyone.

Practising Ethically is about identifying the hopes and rights of patients and their families. It is important to work within the law and treat all service users as individuals. (NMC 2008). Whilst on placement the NMC Code of Conduct must be adhered to and The Code (2010) states that “you must support people in caring for themselves to improve and maintain their health”.

Challenging Inequality involves addressing the consequences of stigma. Patients with mental health problems must be treated with the same rights as everyone else suffering from other health needs. (See Me 2010). On placement the service users I cared for all had substance misuse concerns. This group of people are often stigmatised. I found that most of the service users had many contributing factors to their addictions and could sympathise with them more.

Promoting Recovery is all about working together with patients and professionals to provide care which helps service users overcome mental health problems. It gives service users hope and optimism in working towards a valued life. (Tidal Model 2000). The recovery process on placement was about helping the service users try and overcome their addiction or help them to manage it better.

Identifying people’s needs and strengths involves gathering information about service users’ health and social care needs. Assessments can be carried out to help focus on the service users strengths. (De Jong and Miller 1995). On placement I spoke with a service user who had remained drug free for 3 months. This service user had had her children taken from her and put into care. She was being assessed by the GP and nursing staff to see if they felt she was ready to have her children returned to her.

Providing service user-centred care involves working alongside service users and their families to help them negotiate achievable goals for the individual and identifying all resources that are available to help these goals be achieved. (Shepherd, Boardman and Slade 2008). On placement I worked alongside my mentor in helping a young pregnant girl with a benzodiazepine addiction. Her goal was to slowly detoxify herself from the drug as it can cause cardiac problems and facial clefts in unborn babies (Be My Parent 2010). The GP decreased her prescription by 2mg each week.

Making a difference involves ensuring that services are of a high quality and are suited to each individual. (The Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health 2003). Most of the service users found it very helpful if they were provided with leaflets to make them aware of the effects that the illegal substances had on their lives.

Promoting Safety and Positive Risk Taking involves working with service users to decide the level of risk they are prepared to take with their health and safety. All care must be planned to maximise the benefits for the patient ensuring safety is maintained. (Morgan 2000). It was important on placement to make service users aware of the damage they were doing to both their physical and mental health. Again leaflets being available seemed to help.

Finally, Personal development and learning involves keeping up to date with any changes in the way services are provided. It is a lifelong learning process and is important to reflect on the practice you provide. The Nursing and Midwifery Council 2008, state it is important to keep your knowledge and skills up to date throughout your working life.

The 10 ESCs relate to and support the delivery of mental health policy and legislation in mental health practice in Scotland by linking up with the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003. The principles of this act should influence our practice accordingly. Some of the principles include non discrimination, equality, respect for diversity, respect for carers and participation all of these principles relate to the 10 ESCs. The Nursing and Midwifery Council Code of Conduct framework exists to give nurses the foundation of good nursing and midwifery practice, and is a key tool in safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the people in our care.

During this placement I have found working through the 10 ESCs very beneficial as they have helped me improve my experience of mental health nursing and how to better my care for service users. I am also aware of the importance of keeping up to date with any changes and how the learning experience will continue throughout my nursing career.

Work Based Learning 1 – Module 3

This part of the assignment will describe the links between service users and carers involvement and the 10 ESCs. It will also discuss different levels of involvement that service users and carers have. Also what local approaches are available to help increase service users involvement in their care.

NHS Education for Scotland (2010) states that involving service users and their carers is about encouraging them to have responsibility in their own care and treatment and to be involved in the development of services. By using the 10 ESCs there are things that can be done to overcome any of the following barriers, losing hope, negative experiences of mental health services and stigma. ESC 3 – Practising Ethically helps service users to build up a relationship with their nurse and shows the nurse how to recognize the services users rights and hopes

There are three levels of involvement which are, individual, organisational and strategic levels I will now discuss the service user and carers involvement at each of these levels.

Involvement at an individual level includes individuals being given choices and having involvement in all stages of their care process. Service users and carers should have easy access to any information or advice available to them and

What do you consider your personal strengths and limitations in terms of your development as a professional social worker? Considering my strengths, I am cooperative, good-natured, generous, helpful, humble and modest and I trust others. As a professional, I am non-judgmental, not blaming the client for their troubles. Even if someone hurts my feelings, I am quick to forgive. These qualities are important for me, because I am working and will work with a variety of persons – healthcare professionals, clients, and so on – who may exhibit inflexible and demanding personalities that may be challenging to work with.

Finding the right treatment or service for each client based on their needs requires a creative person. I am also meticulous, hard-working, well organized, have good self- discipline, and take my obligations seriously. These traits are suitable for when I am working independently or carrying heavy caseloads.

My extroverted personality also suits my career objective as a social worker as interaction with others is a significant portion of a social worker’s job. Regarding communication skills, I am talkative, assertive, sociable and active. Over the years I have also succeeded to mature emotionally.

One of my limitations is that, although I speak four languages fluently, my Spanish is not acceptable yet when it comes to communicating with Hispanic clients. I am overcoming this personal limitation by taking a course in the next semester as a starting point. My other limitation is a lack of experience as a social worker. As I learn and seeing the issues that clients have, I am discovering that there is much more to learn. There are many concerns that I still do not know how to handle, but I am learning and will learn more in the near future.

Personal Qualities
2. What qualities do you possess which prepare you for graduate social work?

Some of my personal qualities include being motivated and enthusiastic in a thoughtful and respectful manner. I am able to maintain a courteous and caring demeanor, even in stressful situations. I have a high score for intellect, which indicates that I strive to learn and maintain my current knowledge, which is essential for a good and passionate social worker. I am genuinely concerned with other people and try to treat everyone with courtesy and kindness.

I have always had the desire to study and strive in my area of interest. When I had an opportunity in 2005 to go back to school, I was fully committed to excel in my studies. My goal is not just to get good grades, but also to fully understand the concepts in my studies and be able to analyze them. There are many social issues in our society that I would like to personally contribute to for the improvement of society. Through learning, I was able to understand some of my own experiences from the past, and instead of taking them as a terrible lesson, I accepted them as challenging journey.

One of my academic goals is to keep up my above average grades. I put in enormous effort and hard work into my studies. Making it to the Dean’s list every semester is also a priority. Upon arriving at this university, I was determined that I would spend my next four years in pursuit of new ideas and experiences.

Current and Past Experiences
3. What professional skills and experiences make you an appropriate candidate for our program?

Regarding my work experience, since 2005 I have been responsible for daily programming of activities and providing positive behavioral goals and objectives for an eight year old boy with high functioning autism. This year, I was employed at California Psychcare as a behavioral instructor. This company is one of the vendors for North Los Angeles County Regional Center where I provide therapy for children with autism.

Besides my part-time work, I have also been an intern since August 2009 at the Domestic Abuse Center, which is located in Reseda, California. We are trained volunteer advocates responding with police to domestic violence calls, offering immediate assistance with medical, legal and counseling referrals and shelter options.

From January to May 2009, I was a volunteer at the Therapeutic Living Centers for the Blind in Reseda, California. The clients were legally blind and also had some degree of cognitive disability. My interactions with them included learning appropriate prompting, assistance and communication techniques. In May 2009, I received a Dr. Russ Miller Scholarship Award given by the CSUN Sociology Department.

Future Goals
4. Discuss how your professional goals are consistent with the mission of the CSUN MSW Program.

Regarding my professional goals, I have a strong desire to help others. This insight comes from the fact that my mother had a serious mental disorder, namely bipolar disorder, while she was alive. In Yugoslavian society, it was a shame and a stigma to have someone mentally ill in the family. My mother tried hard to adjust and to act normal, but this was beyond her abilities, particularly around the time when the civil war started to break out in Yugoslavia. Instead of demanding to adjust, the family members should have understood that they had an ill person in the family. My father and I lacked this knowledge at that time. When my father got sick from stomach cancer, the whole situation was spinning out of control in my family until it ended in tragedy. My beloved mother could not cope any longer with life’s challenges and she committed suicide. My father died five months later. I strongly feel that my mother could be alive today, had she received help, which is the reason for my choice of future career.

After completing a Master’s degree, I would like to develop psycho-educational workshops. Families with mentally ill members often find themselves overburdened. These families do not have the appropriate knowledge or skills to handle or take care of the mentally ill; they need special training, support and knowledge. Moreover, the families need to know how to interact with service providers effectively and how to interact with their mentally ill members. Consequently, I strongly believe that these workshops will result in good outcomes for the whole family. I never had any professionals approaching me and offering me this knowledge. Even though we were a middle class family in Yugoslavia, it was assumed that if we did not need financial help, we did not need any other help or information. Hopefully for some families who have a mentally ill member, this support in the form of workshops will be beneficial.

My other passion when it comes to career objectives is helping soldiers returning

from war to adjust to everyday life again. We can work to develop a clinical strategy to

reach out to traumatized veterans who have not been able to return to civilian life. After completing the MSW program, I would like to, as a social worker, offer veterans and their families some services such as resource navigation, crisis intervention, advocacy, benefit assistance, and mental health therapy for conditions such as depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and drug and alcohol addiction. For many combat veterans, their problems are compounded by multiple mental ailments. Thus, in facing the challenges on return from combat, it is vital for the veterans to receive family support and understanding.

Many civilians are judgmental when it comes to returning veterans, claiming they

are strong and will get over their war experiences. It is therefore the duty of a passionate psychiatric social worker to educate the public about this sensitive topic and to help these veterans who deserve to be helped. These are my main career objectives.

I come from a country with rich cultural and ethnic diversity, where I lived as an ethnic minority. This self-awareness helps me understand cultural sensitivity better as well as the clients’ cultural beliefs, when working with the specific client populations.

Beside English, I speak Hungarian, Serbian and Croatian and I am in the process of learning Spanish. Knowledge of Spanish will be an asset for me as a social work practitioner. Physical, social, psychological and emotional problems attributable to lifestyle, environment, substance abuse and stress will continue to grow in number and complexity. There will be a need for creative and imaginative interventions.

Professional Objectivity
5. Identify three client populations that might create a value conflict for you
or that might cause you to lose your professional objectivity. Describe what
approach you will take in order to work with each population listed.

One of the client populations for which I need to be more objective is working with gang members. I realize that being in a gang is more than just doing drug deals and participating in other illegal gang activity. My approach to overcome this deficit is through education to learn about the history of gangs, their language and symbolism, economic considerations and factors that contribute to gang activity as well as the risk factors and the impact of migration and immigration on gangs. I need to learn about how to address the root causes, to recognize that young people often join gangs to achieve a sense of belonging and find a supportive community in them that they frequently lack at home, to understand the inner workings of the gang to find out exactly what it provides, who its members are, what activities they are involved with, and how its leadership is structured. I believe that these adolescents are not inherently bad; instead, faced with limited choices, they are making decisions that lead them down a negative path.

Another client population causing value conflict is the terminally ill as such encounters will expose me to feelings of pain, sorrow, anger, helplessness, and hopelessness. Setting realistic short- and long-term goals in treating these clients and focusing on what can be done, even in situations that seem hopeless, can prevent a sense of failure and despair. Furthermore, achievable goals can be set even in the difficult situation of treating terminally ill patients. The goals might include improving the patient’s quality of life in the final days, instilling a sense of choice and acceptance of physical limitations, helping them cope with parting from family members, and examining their priorities.

The third client population is the elderly. Elderly clients are affectionate and eagerly wait for a social worker to visit them. Most of them treat the social worker as a friend. Professional objectivity is required, so that I will not visualize the client as a family, and to keep in mind that the goal is to help them develop the ability to do well without a lot of support.

Time Management
6. Clearly describe the plans that you have made in order to ensure that you will be able to complete the MSW Program you are applying for given the course workload of the program and the number of hours that are required for field education.

As I work part time for 15 hours per week, I have chosen to undertake the three-year program. My husband works full time and I am not the sole financial provider for my family. I am planning my other areas of life around my studies, so I can fully commit and keep up with good grades.

7. If you are applying for the threeaˆ?year program (or stated that you would consider either program on your application), include an additional discussion regarding your current employment, time management, and specific plans to accommodate sixteen hours per week of field education (of which eight to sixteen are during internship business hours) during the second and third years of the program.

My work is flexible; I mostly work afternoons and sometimes on weekends. As stated before, I work as a behavioral instructor with children who have autism. I go into the clients’ homes to provide services. I never work more than three hours per session. I have been able to establish a professional, but friendly relationship with these families; therefore, I can change my schedule, as long as the required hours are completed.

Through the process of reviewing my journal entries, I was overwhelmed by incidents I went through. I realized some unfortunate and unintentional racism and microaggressions in my journals. I noticed that resulted in producing weak and imperfect assumptions. According to Sue and Sue, Microaggressions are “brief, everyday exchanges that send denigrating messages to a target group like people of color, women and gays “(2007. Chap5). It was obvious I did things according to my own culture and somehow disregarding others’ cultures unintentionally. Added to this, I found out that I was immature and unfair to make conclusions without further scrutiny. Scrutinizing all these non-stopping cultural thoughts, I started to think if I am culturally knowledgeable enough to be a counselor who got the necessary skills and means to work effectively with clients from multicultural backgrounds. Trough my previous journal review, I began to think about the reason why I struggle to bring up these multicultural calamities. Being hesitant on how I am going to provide therapy despite existing diversity issues. Despite all the readings, guest speakers and activities conducted in class, I find I still have some prejudice and assumptions in my subconscious mind such as homosexuality, which is challenging according to my religious beliefs as a Muslim. As a professional therapist, it will be helpful to get rid of these feelings and always stay away from being prejudiced against persons practicing different habits and beliefs. Sue and Sue said that “the belief in the inferiority of others as well as the belief that one has the power to oblige certain standards upon others of another culture is also witnessed” (SS 4). The ethnocentric monoculturalism mindset that Sue and Sue discussed in chapter four both shocks and amazes me.

Reading my journal entries helped me to reconsider the decisions and stereotypes I made about other ethnic minorities and especially homosexual communities. As a result of the journal reading, what are the measures that would help to avoid these stereotypes, perceptions, and beliefs do we hold about culturally diverse groups and may help us to maintain an effective relationship? (SS 2)

As far as my feelings are concerned, I was very frustrated and feel guilty and ashamed of being careless about a variety of multicultural minorities. Besides, it is not fair not to scrutinize these cultural calamities and not to withdraw from others and their situations and circumstances. This curiosity developed in me a sense of appreciation to tolerate these differences and willingness to find out more about my biases willing to work hard in order to be more aware of my weaknesses and change them. “Feelings of shame and pride are mixed in the individual and a sense of conflict develops” (SS 10)

Identity was given a generous part in my previous journal entries as I dedicated more space and time for better understanding of myself. More than that, the conversation I had with my colleagues, guest speakers, and class instructor as well as through readings, helped me to define my identity within my family and other groups in which I have belonged, especially the Muslim communities. This considerable wind of change actually taught me to not take cultural issues for granted anymore, to spend more time and effort figuring out who I am. However, it is still hard to devote completely to accept given cultural differences and to solve identity issues. But, it was comforting that Slavic people had been referred to as such a strong religious affiliations and characterized as “a cornerstone of their identity” (MGG 52, pg. 713. In dealing with multiracial backgrounds and issues, it is awkward to ask coworkers or individuals from different counties questions like “Where are you from?’ or “What are you?” because asking questions about ethnicity generates a sense of being offended and differentiated, and it is sometimes perceived as rude, insensitive, ambiguous and misconstrued. However, the idea is certainly not to make the person feel questioned or offended or attacked when asked about their ethnicity (SS 18). Maria Root’s Bill of Rights (SS 18) is a great inspiration to me since it gave me a much greater understanding of what we “ask” multiracial people to do when we ask about their heritage and expect it to “fit” within the monoracial classification system. Conceptualizing identities and giving them more focus is a good idea (SS 18; Torres, Jones, & Renn). It is crucial for more understanding of the topic of identity development. Personally, I still need to fully recognize and improve my own understanding of myself, my background, and my culture. Added to this the feeling of guilt was also common in my journal entries, and Sue and Sue stated that without such an awareness and understanding, we may unintentionally discriminate among multicultural groups. When this happens, we may become guilty of cultural oppression and be a threat to multicultural minorities (SS 10) I did feel guilty about many things, but it is very significant to be aware of this problem now in order to avoid it in future confrontations.

Personal Reflections on My Experiences

This class was an important step in my journey in life; it helped me to recognize many unintentional biases and stereotypes. It was a positive influence on me by improving my competencies, increasing my vigilance and cultural sensitivity. Yet, there is still a threat of underpathologizing a client’s symptoms without taking into consideration cultural backgrounds. More than that, the understanding of a client’s cultural context, having knowledge of culture-bound syndromes and being aware of cultural relativism, are challenging because, being oversensitive to these factors, the therapist’s pathology might be influenced negatively. As a result, this process ends up underpathologizing disorders (SS 4)

It is fundamental to put up with and value the difference of other cultures, and this class helped me also to think about it seriously as I believe during this short semester I achieved a level of cultural sensitivity and awareness by discussing the IDI Profile which presented information about how to make sense and how to react and treat these cultural similarities and dissimilarities.

Emotions such as anger, sadness, and defensiveness took a part of the discussion about experiences of race, culture, gender, and other socio demographic variables (MGG 1). These feelings can either improve or reduce the understanding of the notion of multicultural calamities. That is why I believe this class was very important to take. As a professional, working with a multicultural population, I am sure that I need to know that I am different and how to deal with it in an appropriate way. Moreover, in my little work experience, I worked with many different people who are from diverse cultures and that led to some challenging times to understand each other in the beginning in terms of language, eye contact, and sometimes body language. I have discovered that by making statements of similarity, I have the possibility to share our differences that can influence my professional and personal life. Discussing the language difficulty openly with a client may be a beneficial tactic in the future. Working with older adults was a good point that Sue and Sue covered in their book. They are aware that it is important to critically evaluate our own attitudes about old adults and their daily attitudes and concerns. Sue and Sue stated some legal and ethical issues that should be in mind while dealing or working with older adults (e.g., competency issues). Older adults need care and respect in terms of their mental status, and as a counselor, I have to know how to deal with those people in professional way.

The disabled population is another community that I learned to be aware of how to work with. Three models of disability affecting individuals were presented in the Sue and Sue book. First, the moral model is a “defect” considered a sort of sin or moral lapse. Second, the medical model is represented as a defect or loss of function that resides in the individual. Finally, the minority model is seen as an external problem involving an environment that fails to provide a shelter for individuals with disabilities. (SS 26) I learned that I have to treat people regardless of disability status with the same expectations and gather information about my client’s disability. Those people gave me strength.

It was also interesting to be aware of social class issues, and this class was beneficial in helping us as future professionals to figure it out. As discussed in chapter 12 in Sue and Sue, “Multicultural counseling and therapy must be about social justice, providing equal access and opportunity to all groups; being inclusive; removing individual and systemic barriers to fair mental health treatment, and insuring that counseling/therapy services are directed at the micro, meso, and macro levels of our society” (SS 12.) I learned that as counselors, we need to be hard working and supportive for immigrants and offer needed services for minorities and provide for local, state, and federal immigration laws. It is a big challenge to be able to work within different cultures setting, but keeping up will help people face all the barriers coming in the future.

Within my family, I feel powerless. I still have some issues that cannot be discussed with them, and most of these are cultural issues that I cannot change immediately always lead to conflict. The issues range from the handling of emotions, such as being able to express anger or shame about specific things, or being able to talk loudly about making my own decisions such as my relationship with the person who I choose to live who is from another culture. I learned also that sometimes, even the married couples of similar backgrounds; they may still face some intercultural concerns. However, relationships from multi cultural backgrounds reach to the edge of success and go beyond given culture differences.

As far as my IDI-personal plan is concerned, I mentioned that culture is about the rules of how to function within cultural context. Within the process of understanding these cultural differences and rules, I was somehow sensitive to those rules, but it is an important factor that participated to ameliorate my cultural awareness. I think I need to learn more effectively about my own culture including history and rules of myself and my family.

The encapsulated Marginality part in my IDI- personal plan signified that I am trying to figure out how to correlate my intercultural beliefs with my identity and how to make such transition. This condition transition between culture and identity is referred to as Adaptation and Integration. To demonstrate this transition, I am saying to myself, “Who I am?” compared to “What is my true culture?” like my Berber origins compared to other cultures in my country.

Another brief statement in my IDI-personal plan stated that I avoid learning about other cultures and ignore their history.

The profile also shows that I may have a commitment to the idea that people from other cultures are “like us”, or those people should share the same set of “universal” values I have. I may also have difficulties in identifying important cultural differences that influence intercultural relations, and I need to resolve these issues before I can exercise my greatest potential of intercultural competence (Bennett & Bennett, 2002).

In my professional part of my IDI-Personal plan, I mentioned that I have to be able to experience the existence of other cultures and I should be sensitive and aware in order to be effective with my clients.

It terms of working with people of color, it is useful to discuss the reaction of the client to a professional who is from a different ethnic background (e.g. “Sometimes clients feel uncomfortable working with a counselor of a different race”) and be aware of mistrust and work to earn a client’s trust (SS 14). It is very significant to comprehend the dissimilarities, assist the clients to be relaxed in working with me as a professional, and be trusted and well-liked.

Assessment of the Effectiveness to date of The IDI-based Personal Development Plan

My IDI Individual Profile helped me reflect on my experiences around cultural differences and similarities. As I reviewed my IDI profile results, I considered past situations in which I attempted to make sense of cultural differences and similarities; this can assist me discover statements that may have guided my actions in these situations. Moreover, I need to focus on a situation I am presently facing.

The IDI-based personal plan helped me to learn more about my own culture. I was surprised when I read the outcomes of my IDI result, especially in terms of being aware of my biases that I was thinking were strengths. In my developmental task, I stated that I have to recognize cultural differences that are escaping my notice. I have to learn more about my own culture especially its heritage. I will explore my own culture by gathering necessary information.

The IDI gave me the chance to be more conscious of “who” I am and where I came from.

Steps to continue developing my sensitivity to difference and cultural competence

I need to continue developing my sensitivity to difference and cultural competence and be able to work successfully with clients from diverse ethnics and cultural backgrounds. I need to continue developing awareness by recognizing the value of population diversity.

It is correct that one cannot discover everything about other cultures. However, I need to get awareness about other groups. I also need to separate my religious insights and respect others’ religion beliefs. I need to recognize and be mindful of who I am and where I came from. I need to be aware of my privilege as an educated person in my family. Finally, in order to continue developing my own sensitivity to difference and cultural competences, I have to recognize how my culture is viewed by others. I need to attend workshops and seminars about other cultures. I need to learn about others’ culture by watching documentaries and movies as much as possible.

Visiting other countries and participating in its cultural events and festivals, and sharing experiences with other people will be a very effective plan.

Within this assignment I will demonstrate the knowledge gained in my practice since starting my post qualifying degree and consider my future learning and development. This training has been about gaining or updating knowledge, but I have also gained further insight into how I work as a practising social worker, I would agree to Gillian Ruch’s (lecture notes, February 2008) comments about taking care of yourself quoting Simmonds, le Riche and Tanner that:

“Knowledge of others cannot be acquired without knowledge of oneself. Knowledge of others cannot be substituted for knowledge of oneself. Knowledge of oneself cannot be acquired without a relationship with others.’ (Simmonds, in le Riche and Tanner 1998:96)

Focus on the Child

Assignment on Observation of child in Nursery or play group:

For this unit I had to observe a child between the ages of 0-5 years. I had mixed emotions and anxieties. The anxiety was about visiting a place I had very little knowledge of, what would I be observing? What would the young person I was observing be like? Was I competent enough? This helped me to reflect on my own anxieties when visiting children in need in their homes. It has been an important learning experience to understand the impact of my presence that might have on children and their families.

The challenge was to observe a child without any specific reasons or concerns with regards to that child. Therefore observing a child without any professional skills of communicating and engaging children, raised the question: “How can a professional give up the sense of being in control and become a student again, lay down one’s tools and simply be open to what is happening?” (Segal 2002-3, p16).

Reflecting on this activity I realised the danger in my actual practice. All of us have our own preconceptions, our particular mind sets and prejudices. We have a tendency to see what we are looking for and to look for only what we want to know about. Rarely do we take time to stop and watch intently. These observations sessions offered me with the opportunity to develop ability to remain detached, to suspend judgements and refrain from participation.

Assignment on ADHD:

I was able to consider current research and ways of supporting children with ADHD and their families.

Throughout my research for this assignment I found little evidence that socioeconomic and environmental factors caused ADHD, I also found little evidence that poor parenting or a hectic home life caused ADHD. There are different approaches to treatment of ADHD such as Medical approach and Behavioural modification approach. To date it is unknown what actually causes this condition, which is arguable and so makes it much more difficult in treating ADHD. In addition to this some of the researches suggest that the medications for ADHD can cause potentially harmful side effects and does not treat the cause of Attention Deficit Disorder. I am aware that most doctors would argue that the medication used is safe and beneficial. However in my opinion it is important to recognise that ADHD is a disorder that is managed and not cured. Therefore it is essential for all agencies to work together: medically, socially and educationally, with a common understanding of the whole approach for treatment. Behaviour management techniques take time and great patience on everybody’s part. But the techniques have been shown to be very effective. In my experience the importance is given to curative rather than preventive measures. I am of the opinion that children with ADHD should get a package of treatments involving the medicines which are closely monitored by doctors and parental involvement with other agencies support for them to manage the children’s behaviour with setting appropriate boundaries.

Practice in Partnership with Children, Young People, Their Families and Carers

This piece of work highlighted the importance of working in partnership with professionals as well as families to get the best possible outcome for the children. For this particular assignment I tried to reflect on my own understanding about working in partnerships whilst working with the family.

Family Rights Group suggests a definition of partnership, ‘Partnership is for each other, rights to information, accountability, competence and values accorded to each individual input. In short, each partner is seen as having something to contribute, power is shared, decisions are made jointly and roles are not only represented but backed by legal and moral rights.’ (Family Rights Group, 1991). Children’s safety and welfare should be paramount. A learning curve for me was the understanding of importance of self awareness and how this helps to promote the service users best interests (Ruch 2005). It was crucial to consider theories of attachment, child centred services and task centred approach, whilst working with the family to achieve best outcome for the family. It is important to be mindful to practice in an anti oppressive and anti discriminatory way at all times. It was enriching experience to recognise the importance of doing assessment with the families and not on the families addressing power imbalance between professionals and service users.

Participation, partnerships and networks

Research Report

This unit gave me opportunity to study thoroughly on one specific subject. As a practitioner working in a very busy front line team it is always hard to go back to become student to learn and unlearn. I was always interested in gaining in depth knowledge in the area of unaccompanied asylum seekers. This study answers the question,’ Can Collaborative Practices be developed to enhance the services for Looked after Children with specific reference to Unaccompanied Asylum Seeker Children [UASC]’.

“Collaborative working” is often used to refer to “the process of working together with other professions” (Quinney 2006: 10; Balloch and Taylor 2001) with Whittington (2003) defining it as “partnership in action” (Whittington 2003:16). This area was chosen due to the author’s experience of working in a front line team where such examples of working collaboratively with professionals when dealing with UASC are prevalent, and strategies for improved collaboration are always needed.

Home office reports that there are approximately 360 children are trafficked into and within the UK each year. Therefore it is therefore necessary when considering what strategies need to be developed to address these shortcomings and to build on pieces of practice that supports all the professionals including fosters carers and social workers to ensure the children are protected. The study also raises flaws in training to both carers and social workers with regards to current legislation and policies to be practiced. Lack of understanding of such important information may result in ineffective responses to identify the risk factors and react efficiently towards it. This study gave me opportunity to acquire conceptual understanding and recommendations for my future interventions with such vulnerable group of children.

Innovative Regulatory Practice

Group Presentation

This particular unit turned out really very hard due to many reasons. The members of my group were from same place and I was not in the same area. Initially there were difficulties of distance and co ordination and I started feeling left out. However with confrontation and with the help from tutors we managed to come up with a good plan of actions and the presentation was prepared as a group activity. I was able to reflect on my style, creativity and interpersonal skills and used them all to be creative in the presentation. I enjoyed researching a topic that I needed further knowledge of: the subject of Trafficked children, which has proved very useful in my work for me and colleagues. On reflection it has shown me how research and knowledge can be effectively used and strategies can employed in working with people to change things together and develop new ways of working which improve practice, knowledge and skills. This very much linked with my Research topic and gained further knowledge in subject matter.

Enabling Others

Taking a role as work based supervisor for a final year student for their 6 months

Placement in the team

This unit enabled me to reflect on my own practices and support a student in placement. I am aware that people work and learn differently and have different needs. I have learnt the importance of balancing and developing my own theorist and reflector styles of learning which has been facilitated by my post graduate training. It has been valuable to understand my own position to be able to recognise and consider other people’s perspectives in my styles of learning. This analysis enabled me to use different approaches and strategies to help students and others to learn and develop. I am more confident to enable others in the work place. I am able to use the theoretical knowledge gained from the course and practical experiences to enable my student to acquire the same.

Aims for the Future

As social workers we are tasked with making judgments and decisions about individual’s lives on a daily basis it is therefore essential that analysis and reflection take place to ensure that those decisions are the right ones. To do this job effectively requires self-knowledge, support and professional competence at the very least. “The nature of the training, ongoing supervision and consultation that are required is something that needs urgent attention at many levels” (Rustin 2005, p19 in Ruch, 2008).

The knowledge gained in completing my post qualifying degree will enable me to incorporate critical reflection into my everyday work practice with service users, student social workers and other professionals across agencies. As usual, social workers are seen to be the reasons why children die when incidents happen. There is a great responsibility on everyone to try to change our culture of blame and help develop personal responsibility and sense of community. Having a more thorough knowledge of the process of change, everyone is different and has different views, enables me to work in such an environment. The course has provided an opportunity to be challenged, learn new things and make sure that I continue to do so.

Self-monitoring is a personality trait which measures the ability of an individual (he or she) to adjust their behaviour to the demand of the external situational factors. There were many situations where my behavior was not proper with respect to understanding of other person’s situation. Every employee gets stressed as they approach deadlines. I have neglected colleagues many times by not replying to their urgent emails because I was much worried about completion of work on time, though the sender required input data from me to go ahead further. I gave inappropriate answers to colleagues who approached me for technical doubts that added unnecessary arguments. The management had introduced a new process for the projects like documentation, reviews and so on. I argued many times by not thinking from perspective of the manager and the organization. There were situations when I got escalated with trivial issues. However, the problem might have been solved easily if I had thought from the other person’s perspective and acted accordingly.

1.Action Described
People Centred Manager Skills that I will develop
Example of New Behaviour you will display given this new skill
Resources you
need to
implement
action
Action’s specific benefits to an organization according to theory ( Kinicki &Kreiter)

Not replying to important emails when under pressure.

Giving vague answers when I was in stress

Argued with manager against new process by not thinking in right perspective

Escalated with trivial issues when in stress

Be more flexible and respond to others in an appropriate manner.

Think twice before responding to others.

Communicate in a clear and good manner.

Stay cool and calm during stress and control the temper levels.

Avoid unnecessary arguments. Think objectively.

Understand the issues objectively before intensifying.

Spend some time on replying urgent issues. If I cannot reply immediately, I would inform they by email or phone.

Give clear answers to people according to the situation and let me them that I would attend them later if I am busy.

Think objectively, think from others point of view before raising concerns. Be patient.

I would practice constructive criticism.

Avoid discussing unnecessary issues.

Take help from friends and colleagues by discussing how would they handle stress and plan their work.

Gain knowledge on how to interpret both the verbal and non-verbal gestures.

Practice pranayams(breathing exercise) and do meditation.

Improve communication by talking and reading Communicating in Digital Age(Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

There is must success with high self-monitors and career success (Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

Good communication within the team and improves well-being of the group (Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

High self monitors are people who are emotionally mature especially managers who can help their employers reduce conflicts, anger and stress related problems.

(Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

Reflection 2 and Action plan 2: Measuring your desire for Performance Feedback

I strongly believe that feedback helps what actions an individual need to change. I come under the category of moderate desire for feedback as per the hands-on exercise. As a person I knew what I did and how much I am supposed to do (a task). Generally I work according to the plan as scheduled by me ahead of the task. Sometimes, I regret for not taking feedback about my progress at work. Even though I am satisfied with my work, often I get doubts whether the management is happy about the quality of my contribution the organization. Most of the time, I did not bother negative feedback and did not handle in a proper manner in order to avoid feeling insecure. Many times I got a feedback with a negative message like I does not listen to team leaders, come late to the office and leave from work before closing hours. Because of this I should not show deaf ear to all kind of feedbacks rather I must get used to take objective feedback to improve my self-efficiency.

1.Action Described
People Centred Manager Skills that I will develop
Example of New Behaviour you will display given this new skill
Resources you need to implement action
Action’s specific benefits to an
organization according to
theory ( Kinicki &Kreiter)

Working according to the plan without taking feedback.

Neglecting to take feedback with regard to progress of my work.

Avoid by not taking

feedback from management with regard to the quality of work done by me.

Avoiding negative feedback

I would take feedback from team members and plan accordingly to improve.

Get up to date feedback for progressing, improve quality and productivity of work.

Take regular feedback with respect to quality of work.

I would rather focus to improve in the areas where I feel uneasy by using objective negative feedback.

Schedule the task to be done and work on it, request colleagues to go through it and get feedback to improve planning the thinks.

At the time execution of the task, regularly get help from colleagues in the form of feedback to find out whether I am at par with others.

When I complete the task, I would ask team members to review it so that the mistakes are traced out and can improve the quality of the task(work).

It would be better for me to take feedback from others as I cannot be objective for my own performance. Consider, for example how I can improve my communication skills.

Schedule a timetable for getting feedback time to time from a well organised teammate so that I can get proper guidance.

A user friendly centralised system should be developed to help people to give feedback

A moderator to be present in the discussion to ensure that the feedback is objective

A new approach for building positive relation between

managers and employees so that work is managed well and there is a good outcome as expected. (Performance Conversations Model, Christoper D.Lee).

Employees gets motivated to improve performance, attitude and their intensions from performance feedback.

Sometimes even the negative feedback can have

positive motivational effect

(Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

The outcome of feedback gives behaviour direction, resistance, effort and persistence

(Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

“http://www.amazon.com/Performance-Conversations-Alternative-Appraisals-Christopher/dp/1587366053”

Reflection3 and Action plan 3: Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction has relation with motivation at work. I have low job satisfaction with recognition, compensation and supervision as per the hands-on-exercise. I came to know that my friends are paid more for doing similar jobs in other companies. I also regret about the goals set to me by my manager at the time of appraisal. It has effect on my compensation which lowered motivation. However, I have not approach my manager to express my concern and to worsen the situation I got frustrated and decreased my efficiency at work. My manager is a headstrong person who wanted things to happen in his way. As an employee I expected to have freedom at work. Many times we ended up with arguments there by creating uncomfortable working conditions. Because of constant supervision my frustration levels increased which reduced the productivity. Often, team members were blamed for unnecessary issues that were not relevant to work which in turn lowered the motivation level among the team.

1.Action Described
People Centred Manager Skills that I will develop
Example of New Behaviour you will display given this new skill
Resources you need to implement action
Action’s specific benefits to an organization according to theory ( Kinicki &Kreiter)

Did not discuss with manager regarding

appraisal.

I have not given the feedback to the manager, so work atmosphere is not improved.

Getting stressed and their by neglecting work.

Expressed my frustration on team members for which I ended in bad relationship with team.

Got de motivated and reduced the production level due to unnecessary arguments with the management.

I would express my views by talking to manager and come up with all the available options.

Always give quick feedback to the management so that they take immediate action on concerning issues.

Analyse the issue and act accordingly so that a good environment is created.

Maintain healthy relationship with team members by being calm while at work.

Avoid arguing unnecessarily by thinking objectively and positively so that at least new issues may not be raised.

I prefer to take feedback from the management so as to understand how they think of the productivity.

I would approach the concerned authority and let them know about the problems in the team.

Talk to the manager personally about sensitive matters like appraisal to maintain good relationship.

Reducing the frustration levels when talking to colleagues. Get dedicated to work along with the team.

If there are any problems approach the management and let them know and talk to them clearly.

Expecting the onsite opportunities to work on a project cover the lost compensation.

I make sure that I

attend various programs that improves me personally

and team coordination.

Get used to new activities like yoga, playing indoor games to calm down yourself.

Know myself at what level I am in the team by taking feedback from my team members.

There is a conntection between job satisfaction of and motivation (Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

There is a positive relationship between customer satisfaction andorganisational citizenship behaviours (Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

The more the person is healthy and has control on him the better the positive atmosphere is created in the organization

(Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

When we are satisfied we perform well and performance in turn causes satisfaction(Kinicki &Kreitner, 2009)

Reflection 4 and Action Plan 4: Ethical Behaviour

As a fresher I misused office resources when I was working for a company. As per rules of an organization, we were not supposed to divulge confidential information to the people who are not part of our team but many times I talked about the project with friends. We are supposed to use landline phones for office purpose only i.e. to clarify doubts with team members but we misused it for personal purpose. The company used to provide food and transportation for employees who work after 9 p.m. We used to stay till 9oclock to have food and go home by office car. We used to move around in the lunch break and back to the office late in the afternoon session. Sometimes we abscond from office during work hours by telling that we were not feeling well and take official leave. We were supposed to internet services for searching only the data that was relevant to the technology we were working on but many times we misused by watching news, cricket scores, chatting and so on. Many times we blamed each other for errors in the project work even though our mistake is there. Inspite of us being unethical to the organization we were not pointed out by the management because of our work performance.

1.Action Described
People Centred Manager Skills that I will develop
Example of New Behaviour you will display given this new skill
Resources you need to implement action
Action’s specific benefits to an organization according to theory ( Kinicki &Kreiter)

I am unethical to the company by using its resources for personal purpose

Using internet services for personal use.

Blaming others for errors in the project.

I would send a clear message by cultivating good habits and behavior about ethical conduct.

Let the management know what need to be done to restrict the employees from misuse of the resources and suggest them to take severe action.

Talk and listen to the senior employee about the ethical standards. Make a habit of following ethics of the company.

Be regular to the office and work till the office hours are completed.

Make use of the available resources strictly for office purpose only and not doing personal work in the office.

I would be responsible for what I do and rectify the mistakes I have done by approaching collegues.

Attend various ethical training programs to tackle with the ethical issues.

Make use of the decision trees to evaluate the ethical questions.

Attend meetings and informal conversations where leaders talk about ethical behavior by telling the situational examples.

By being ethical one can act has a role model for others to follow and create good atmosphere in the company(Kinicki &Kreither, 2009)

Create an environment where employees are given chance to express them so that companies ethics are not violated(Kinicki &Kreither, 2009)

Provide training sessions on ethics at the time orientation, online lectures and through seminors (Kinicki &Kreither, 2009)

Reflection 5 and Action Plan 5: Intrinsic Motivation

We were supposed to deliver a project to the client in a very less span of time. The task became a huge challenge to me because the time span is not sufficient. We were told to work for extra hours in the office. I went into a perception that I lost passion about my work because it was difficult for us to adjust all of a sudden to the new work environment.

My team members and I could not give output up to the expectations because of the low intrinsic movtivation this in turn has effect on capabilities of my decision making. We lost confidence and passion for work. We did not get proper requirements from the client and as well from manager i.e. he does not give clear picture of what we are supposed to do. It was very difficult to go ahead with the project in less span of time because we were supposed to learn new concepts to implement in the project. Inspite of me working hard I do not get proper information from my lead or manager from time to time.

1.Action Described
People Centred Manager Skills that I will develop
Example of New Behaviour you will display given this new skill
Resources you need to implement action
Action’s specific benefits to an organization according to theory ( Kinicki &Kreiter)

Lost passion at work because of new work environment.

Did not get proper requirements from manager.

No idea of new concept to be implemented in the task.

No recognition from manager for my work.

Get inspiration by recognizing my passion at work and by modeling desired behaviours.

I would discuss with the employees about the tasks.

Give proper training on the concepts before going ahead with the task and give support to learn.

Report to the manager from time to time about work, be ethical.

I would work with commitment and compassion till the project is handed to the client.

When I get a task I would sit with the colleagues and get a clear picture of what we are supposed to do.

Implement the task using new concept and approach team mates if necessary.

I would work for extra work in the office and let the manager know if I help others at work by working late nights.

Motivational lectures from the management or video tapes showing the examples for commitment towards work.

Come to a solution by analyzing the task, approach the manager for modifications for confirmation.

Sample documents that are related to our task.

A system should be developed where the employees are monitored and rewarded .

The company benefits from high productivity if the job performance of its employees is raised

Identify and implement various kinds of managerial behaviours to improve intrinsic rewards(Kinicki &Kreither, 2009).

The organization have high retention rate if the employees feel that they are more valued

The organization can improve bottom line results.

“http://www.ehow.com/how_4714830_foster-intrinsic-motivation-workplace.html”

“http://www.callcentrehelper.com/building-better-performance-through-intrinsic-motivation-48.htm”

This essay seeks to discuss the concept of personalization in the health and social care services in the united kingdom whereby highlighting various theories that define the aspect of risk assessment as well as determine the risk concept as it exists in personalization and the available risk assessment models and finalize the discussion by highlighting the national and local reports relevant to personalization in the united kingdom (Keohane, N., 2009).

Risk refers to the potential danger that one is exposed to given the situation is operating in or the activities that he is performing. Risk can lead to loss of life or property depending on where the risk happened and what was involved. The issue of risk can also have the influence on the final result of a given process. Any human activity in one way or the other poses some kind of risk and if not well handled it can amount to maximum destruction. Risk in some other situations can be motivated by constant exposure to activities that are dangerous to one’s life.

This first part of the essay aims at discussing the process of risk assessment, the conceptual frameworks, theoretical models and practice tools which inform the processes of risk assessment with regard to personalization and the associated risks

The process of doing risk assessment is aimed at determining various risks in personalization in the health and social care services. Assessment on risk has to be accompanied by intervention since the process of doing risk assessment is to determine the risk and the course of action required. Risk assessment in the health and social care sector need to be a continuous process in order to guide the decision making process for the services providers. Assessment is also important in helping the service providers to come up with strategies that should be applied when dealing with risks (English Community Care Association, 2010). Use of risk assessment in the health and social care services, needs proper planning based on the previous reports in order to establish what is already known about the social services from the past experience and research information (DWP, 2006).

Personalization is the process of availing public sources for the users. It’s informed as a philosophy and a policy on reform on the various ways public services should be presented to those who require them. It requires very deep thoughts about the services that need to be rendered to the public. One has to think first about the user before thinking about the service, this is so because it assists in determining the kind of service the person requires and then present the same to him to meet his/her needs.

Personalization normally takes different forms depending on the service that need to be offered to the public. But in most cases it’s done in such a manner that it provides many choices to the users through different service providers. This approach has been developed in the service care whereby various budgets are being prepared and funded alongside the universal services that need to be accessed by everybody (Gregg, P., 2008). This policy has become the fastest rationale in reforming various sectors such as the health sector which is one of the most important sectors that deal directly with the people in terms of providing them with healthcare services. The approach of providing the services to the public is something that has received support from many governments, agencies and individuals as indicated in the report on personalization of 2010 during the general election.

Personalization process is a public engagement by an individual whereby the social care providers are associated and involved. Since personalization is an agenda that which one needs to take part in, it has some risks to the care providers which include; lack of privacy to personal life and information. The carers’ in most cases are exposed to the risk of having their personal lives known to the public. They also risk by having to sacrifice much of their time and other commitments for the public activities as well as incurring personal costs in order to provide for the need (DWP, 2008).

One of the risks associated with personalization, is the demand to ascertain the advancement the public services providers have attained. The phase of implementation has been a real challenge because of the difficultness to identify what exactly should be done in personalization. Based on the previous discussion, personalization is all about social care and it has been developed in such way that it takes into consideration four main factors namely; the ability to choose and manage the services, social capital as well as prevention and ensuring access to those services that are of the national importance with a strong concern about making users self direct on public services (ESRC/ACEVO, 2009). In some cases, personalization has been established in such away in that it’s now a broad agenda of ensuring that services are tailored to the users by employing the state-led users’ approaches. This part of the discussion will take a look at various reforms that have been incorporated to ensure that services are driven to the individuals. We will give consideration to adult social care, health, employment services and housing.

Personalization has a long history in adult social care that was initiated by the independent movements in the 1970s that has led to total society care reforms in the 1990s. It campaigned for the need to have people who are physically able to get direct payment, which later show the inclusion of the elderly, disabled children, mental cases as well as those people who have problems in learning. In response to this, the social enterprise in control together with the local authorities developed a budget for direct payments to individuals through an integration of various sources for more creative use (DWP, 2008). The evaluation on this initiative that was done in 2005 revealed that many people appreciated the plan as it empowered them to have a say on their lives

Another agenda for personalization has been to provide good housing. It’s intended at addressing people’s housing needs in a number of ways to make sure that accommodation is among the care agendas. Decent accommodation is one way of providing social care. Being one of the government’s ‘think family initiative’ housing of families at risk was oriented and became one of the elements that were considered when preparing the budget. Local authorities also provided funds to support people in acquiring decent accommodation for those people who are vulnerable to risk (DWP, 2008).

Personal health budgets are currently piloted to various services within the health sector which included mental health, maternity care and drug abuse care. The cost of managing the services individually is not an easy thing for many people and therefore the legislation has been put in place to give direct payments to the health sector. There has also been the tailoring of health support to individuals with chronic diseases like diabetes and HIV/AIDS through the involvement of experts who provide personal care to these patients (Duffy, 2008)

Therefore, personalization being an important process that is intended to deliver services to the users, there is need to involve different parties such as the multi-agencies, individuals, different groups and institutions to assess the whole process to establish the associated risks. During personalization more focus is put on adults in most cases and it is believed that emphasis is not put in to recognize children as special people who are at risk and need special attention. The internal control for children has embarked on a journey to establish the need to have personal budgets and a wide range of activities for the children, young persons and their respective families through the taking control programme of 2010. In the year 2007, the department of education by then, announced various pilots that should be applied to provide individual budgets for the children who are disabled and their families through the act of aiming high programme. In Yorkshire and Humber, the work of providing children with care has been supported by improving the experiences of the children at that point when they are becoming adults. The special schools were also included through the person centered planning. Those children who may have additional needs such as physical or learning problems were found to be at risk of neglect or abuse and through the (BHLP) model, the budgets were piloted to aid their needs. This model has so far seen children being introduced into a culture of, ‘I can do’ starting from the bottom up (HM Government, 2007).

In the area of providing employment, the jobcentre plus initiative launched in 2002, has since then incorporated personal advisers for those that are seeking jobs. However, through the assessment report, it was found that the caseload was so big and can not be handled to deliver personalized support for individuals and therefore more career training was essential for the advisers to make them more effective according to McNeil report of 2009, on career progression and development. This led to provision of block contracts in order to cover the jobseekers who have different needs (HM Government, 2007). The Gregg report of 2008 came up with the idea of personalized conditionality for the people that are not working by combining the whole idea of personalization with the concept of conditionality to those behaviors that are insensitive to change. The flexible new deal was established by the department of work and pensions in 2008, to help in creating a more personalized service provision for the people that are out of work. The public sector came into agreement to assist in placing people to work through a public funding that will be provide depending on the number of people who have been placed to work(ESRC/ACEVO, 2009).

In education sector, personalized learning was put into the agenda in 2004 by David Miliband by then the minister for school standards. He described it as ‘an high expectation of every child, given practical form by high -quality teaching based on a sound knowledge and understanding of each child’s needs’ that is according to the report produced by Miliband in 2004. The Children’s Plan published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) in 2007, stated that there is need to make learning the norm for every year to ensure that every child is given proper education and no one should be left behind. The government announced a 1.2 billion sterling pound for three years plan to support personalization for educational needs (English Community Care Association, 2010).

Risk assessment is a technique that is used in social work to assist in setting the ground for making informed decisions since it provides all material facts about the users of the services and different people who are ignored within the community and who require immediate attention.

Frequent assessment framework on risk is provided for use in order to give all the participants the opportunity to regularly conduct risk assessments in order to determine the various needs for the users that need to be supplied. This will enable individuals directly deal with evolving needs with regard to health and social care (Hurst, G., 2009).

Given the need to reveal the likely risks, a given systematic procedure with specific frameworks, models and practices have to be employed to ensure that the process of assessing the risk is a success. This essay has sort to go through various tools and practices that need to be considered when looking the risks that are likely to occur and they include the following; Time is of essence during then process since it’s required to enable the assessors to go through all possible areas that may be a course of any eventuality. It’s important that all the involved parties are given humble time to accomplish their assessments to come up with a good report. Time is required to collect all historical facts and the same time to compare all information to help generate concrete conclusions.

What the assessor should not do at all, is just to collect materials and put them down on record because this avoid the views of the users and other social carers. All concerned people need to be honest to each other at each step as this will create moment consultation and discussions doing the assessment (Hurst, 2009). Those parties that are deemed vulnerable should always be given a hearing to avoid any conflict. Every party should feel honored and respected during the exercise. What must not be done in this case is to avoid recoding any information especially the disagreed areas because this might be the situations that are prone to risk.

It’s important for the assessors to understand what exactly the service user desire to know. In this case what should be avoided is to assume things especially the way one is supposed to address the other colleagues (ESRC/ACEVO, 2009). Every material needs to be made available to the users. It’s supposed to be easy to be retrieved and acceptable by the professionals. At the same time they also need to consider the importance of sharing materials and facts at any given time. It’s absolutely very necessary to keep consultations a life for both the assessors and the users. What needs to be avoided here is being selfish in consultations with the advocates especially when they believe that the time of assessment is likely to be a little bit longer and want to rush to avoid criticism and concerns about the assessment report (GSCC, 2008).

This part will critically analyze awareness of individual, group and institutional decision-making processes and the implications for multi-disciplinary systems and processes.

Individuals, different groups, and decision making processes need to apply risk assessment reports to make their decisions with regard to the needs that are there. Once a need has been identified, it is important for various service providers such as commissioners, users and service providers to work together as a team in order to come up with a strategy that can be used to meet the needs of the users. The process of containing risk is called management of risk and it’s aimed at reducing any associated dangers that may result from that risk. In most cases the risk that has been there for the services providers is the one associated with lack of information and financial resources to determine and manage their affairs (Duffy and Fulton, 2009).

Various agencies and other third party services providers need to come up with various ways to manage new and emerging risks at work especially when dealing with the local authorities in order to be in a position to minimize the danger of failing to meet the users’ needs. There is need for collaboration between the local authorities and other agencies to avoid the risk of meeting the market demands. Its appropriate in some cases to have contingency funding in place to fund for activities incase there could be a likelihood of the market failure. On the other hand, commissioning organizations need to elaborate the extent to which they can handle the legal liabilities especially if there are legal disputes that may arise in the process of delivering services.

Commissioning of personalization is the process of redefining new approaches to be applied in providing services to the users (GSCC, 2008). The approach was developed as a result of the need to reach many people and avail a number of services for the customer choices. The approaches are expected to be convenient and faster in services delivery apart from being cost effective. In the processing of commissioning, however, so many challenges have come into being as result of personalized approach to service delivery. Commissioning of services does not mean that only people whose job title is written commissioning will be doing the job but the service users also need to be involved in the process of providing services to the number of the services providers who can be used at any given time to assist in service delivery (DWP, 2008).

Good commissioning is important in attaining the vision described out in Putting People First. It needs a transformation within the commissioning agenda in regard to the investments commissioners have, the different markets they wish to work to shape and the kind of relationships they wish to need to build in order to meet people’s needs (Gregg, 2008).

Commissioning in the transformed social care is somehow different but no much important task. As councils differ to increasing proportions for their investments meant to make individuals to come up with their own service decisions, commissioners have to find ways to use to work in partnership with service providers to make sure a wide range of selections are made available and that the right kind of support for budget bearers and self-financiers. This will definitely mean that there is a need to come up with more innovative services that better relate to persons selection decisions (Duffy, 2008).

In actual sense personalization is the mechanism developed to tailor services to the users in a more convenient way. The process ensures that all essential services are channeled to the right people at the right time. The activities surrounding the delivery services include a number of key players who take part in the exercise. These services are delivered to meet the needs of individuals. The key players of service delivery are; the social care workforce, third party organizations, the private sector organizations, user-led organizations, commissioning and the policy regulation (DWP, 2008).

Social care workforce as an agency is used when there is total need for change at levels on the various strategies that are used to offer the services to the people and their duties include the following; to provide personalized social care and supportive services incase of any need. They are key players used by the government in performing its central role of service delivery to the users. These people are supposed to add value to the lives of people through their distinct contributions especially for those services that relate to bettering life and empowering the people to be independent for all those who use these services including; families, carers and communities. The social workforce is intended in supporting independence, choice as well as control over difficulties that different individuals face such as disabilities, age and mental health related problems (HM Government, 2007).

Advocacy workers groups are established to fight for the needs of people and protecting their rights. They support the people in making sure that services for consumption are always available for the users and at the same time ensure that they are safe and life promoting services (Gregg, 2008). Personalization for advocacy workers means working together with people who are the users of the services to ensure that services provided are genuine. They also assist in monitoring the systems that are used to deliver the services.

They are also meant to enhance the advocacy levels to make sure that care for people is well funded and does not fall below the required budgets that are used to support services to the public (Hurst, 2009). They also advocate for changes to the types of services that people require and the budgets being spent for the purpose of accountability in the sector of social care.

They also assist to negotiate for people to get more support than the usual conventional one. This is aimed at providing more personalized services that support individuals to enhance their capabilities in terms of contribution to the community, improve their lives as well as the community life (ESRC/ACEVO, 2009).

Home care service providers in most cases in many occasions assist to offer services that confine with personal needs thus creating the need to have more support from people who use them. These are called the home care service providers and their main agenda is to make sure that services are put closer to the users. These are organizations that are started and within the community to perform various duties in relation to services provided. There duties include developing systems and trainings to assist the staff enhance their knowledge as well as creativeness and innovation in person centered approaches (DWP, 2006). They think on how to add on the expansion of assistance offered to individual workforce so as to increase more specialized services to the diverse markets. It’s also important for the home care services providers to find the best to provide their services whether directly through the councils or personal budget bearer.

This part seeks to evaluate the local authorities’ reports on personalization

The 2009 report by the Association of Adult Social Services (ADASS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) which carried out a survey on the process of putting people’s needs first when delivering services indicated that a number of recommendations were put forward to assist in delivering well transformed needs which conform with the needs of the users. In the report, the following recommendations were arrived in order to transform service delivery to the people; the transformation of the social care proved very necessary since it was discovered that there was conflict of interest among different service providers since among them, there were those interested in the same services. This has proved difficulty in promoting transparency and accountability within the sector thus requiring total transformation for efficient management of the public services (Hurst, G., 2009)

There is need to streamline the process of transferring funds to those who are eligible so that to have personal. There is need for all partners to come up with systems that are cost effective as an intervention to reduce the high demand for services and lastly ensure that people who receive and use these services are well informed of the available options within the community to meet their needs (GSCC, 2008).

The report on personalization produced by the centre for Public Service Partnerships (CPSP) indicates that personalization is an important factor in providing services to the public. This reform since then has raised many important questions that need urgent debate on the way forward about personalization using personal budgets. Personalization of public services is meant to last even if it means using individual budgets to empower the users purchase the services.

Personalization policy must be supported and maintained. The report went further to state the need to improve on personalization in order to extend service delivery to the public. Many of the public services like social care, handling of long-term diseases among the citizens, child care, developmental training, higher education and support for those people who are not working either because they are retired or aged require a model of personalization will assist in channeling public finances down to the people in order to allow them make their own informed choices on what to purchase and from where (Duffy, 2010). However, this strategy is accompanied with challenges that need to be taken care of. Firstly, it will require that the relationship between the individuals and the state be streamlined in order to determine what services should be channeled and by which provider. This is likely to abolish monopoly in the public sector services enjoyed by third party businesses and other sectors previously enjoyed the government protection. The whole process of personalization will mean fair competition and dealing within the public services production sector. However, this requires proper regulation to control the quality of services and the costs of obtaining those services (HM Government, 2007).

Learning outcomes

The services suppliers have to change their way of operation to fit in the competition that involve many suppliers in the pubic service delivery sector. There is need for service providers to develop models that are more personalized thus meeting the specific requirements of the users. The demand for public services will shift from the commissioners to the providers thus creating more demand for services which in some cases will not be easy to manage without enough cash flows. This will require more funding to facilitate (GSCC, 2008).

The regulations used should be citizen based to allow for proportionate handling of risk. This is to protect the user from exposed to higher risk than the service provider. No single service provider will enter the sector to reap from the public but must put the interest of the users first. The main function of commissioners in this case is to recognize the needs and various aspirations in relation with the users and other professional bodies that deliver services. They also expected to assess the needs where there is no uniformity in service delivery and allocation of financial resources to the users. They will also be expected to monitor the quality of services and their standards against the legislative requirements. This regulation is very necessary since it protects the users from accessing substandard services (Duffy and Fulton, 2009).

Under this strategy, the citizens must be supported to make their own well informed choices from a variety of sources. This model raises a fundamental question on the kind of relationship that is there between the professional adviser and the users that will motivate the discharge of very important information concerning various services as well as information about power and authority between them. A lot of counseling is required for the users to follow the professional advice and access to advocacy (DWP, 2006). However, personalization means that the service users are able to make informed choices. This is necessary to avoid conflicts between the users and the service providers. Personalized services are expenditures incurred on the public budget and must therefore be well managed to benefit the final users. While spending the public budget, there is need to take into considerations various factors such as purists and pragmatists, dogmatic and idealistic so as to provide well balanced services for all users regardless of whom they are.

Personalization in the social care context, require proper knowledge about the divergent needs the users have, their rights and the possible risks that may face the process. Risk assessment and care provision services are supposed to offer more meaningful and legal direction which the various participants will require in order to provide satisfactorily services to the public (DWP, 2006). The personalization process must be designed in such away in order to offer quality services that are more responsive and cost effective so to enable the carers’ avoid any kind of unnecessary challenges in the execution of social care services to the community. There is need also to start smaller units that offer community care within the society so as to assist in protecting the abused within a given public setting (Gregg, 2008). People who have learning problems need to be provided with special care homes within the community where they can be supported and provided for. The social care workers are expected to practice professionalism while carrying out social duties in order to add value to the services provided.

I agree that not everyone is suitable to do crisis intervention work as there are many factors that need to be considered when doing crisis work. The main factor that is essential for any crisis intervention work is the characteristics and personality of the crisis worker. James & Gilliland (2001, p.17) claim that effective crisis workers share a number characteristics and such workers demonstrate competency in their professional skills. Before we analyze the crisis worker, we need to understand crisis, crisis intervention and the difference between other therapies and crisis intervention because of the need to understand how the role of the intervener differs from other therapies and what are the characteristics that is needed specifically for the crisis intervention.

There are many definitions of crisis but a summarized definition would be that “crisis is a perception or experiencing of an event or situation as an intolerable difficulty that exceeds the person’s current resources and coping mechanisms,” (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.3). A similar definition of crisis is by Roberts (2000) who views crisis as “a period of psychological disequilibrium, experienced as a result of a hazardous event or situation that constitutes a significant problem that cannot be remedied by using familiar coping strategies” (p.7). There are many types of crisis and crisis is not simple but is complex and difficult to understand. It is essential that the individual is able to get relief from the crisis because the crisis causes disruption and breakdown to an individual’s ongoing pattern of everyday functioning. If the crisis is not handled, the situation would tend to immobilize them and they will be unable to control their lives. Apart from that, a crisis can cause individuals to have affective, behavioural and cognitive malfunctioning.

Crisis intervention is an internal helping response and is defined as “methods used to offer short term immediate help to individuals who have experienced an event that produces mental, physical, emotional and behavioural distress,” (Mitchell, n.d. para.1). The ultimate goal of crisis intervention is reducing the dangers of the crisis and allow it to be resolved positively allowing the individual to go on and thrive in life (Echterling, Presbury, & McKee, 2005, p.25). This intervention will focus on resolving the immediate problem to prevent further deterioration and to prevent negative outcome. An article by Center for School Mental Health Assistance (2002) states that, “crisis intervention will restore a sense of equilibrium for the individual in crisis and give them the ability to creatively problem-solve and feel efficacious.”

Crisis intervention differs from other therapies and traditional counselling because it “focuses on short term strategies to prevent damage during and immediately after the experience of trauma,” (Mitchell, n.d. para.5). This intervention is oriented in the present and focuses on the immediate problem which disrupts people from controlling their life. The intervener’s role is to offer immediate assistance to the individual who is struggling with a complex situation and assist them to go on and achieve a meaningful resolution (Echterling, Presbury, & McKee, 2005, p.25). In comparison to crisis intervention, other therapies deal with the totality of the individual’s personality and life issues and tend to be long term as they aim to improve the client’s mental health and personal wellbeing with an attempt to remediate more or less ongoing emotional problems. This only escalates to a crisis when there are threats to fulfilment, safety or meaningful existence (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.8-9) and this is where the crisis worker takes over.

To be a crisis worker, the helper has to have certain qualities to be able to intervene during the crisis and life experiences of the intervener are an important aspect to handle a crisis. These life experiences serve as a resource for emotional maturity that combined with training, enables workers to be stable, consistent and well integrated not only within the crisis situation but also in their daily lives (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.13). When a worker has previous experience of going through a crisis and comes across another individual who is in the similar crisis, they will be able to use their background as a resource to deal with the crisis. For example a crisis worker has previously made suicide attempts and has dealt with it, now has a client who is on the verge of attempting suicide. The crisis worker will be able to help the client overcome the issue because of the first hand experience of the crisis. James & Gilliland (2001) suggest that people who usually do crisis intervention are products of their own crisis environment and they have chosen to work with people experiencing the same kind of crisis they themselves have suffered, and they use their experiential background when working with people in crisis (p.13). Apart from this, life experiences means the helper has emotional maturity and it can enhance the dept and sensitivity with which the clients are treated.

One other characteristic that is essential for a crisis helper is remaining poised because “the nature of crisis intervention is that the worker is often confronted with shocking and threatening materials from clients who are completely out of control,” (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.14). When a helper remains poised in a situation where the client is out of control, there are chances that the stress level of the client will not be escalated. As the helper models this trait to the client, soon a stable atmosphere and a state of composure can be achieved. Eventually the situation will be brought into control and any immediate danger will be diffused. This trait of calming the victim and the situation has to be deeply abided within the helper and cannot be taught.

Aguilera & Messick (1982) stated that creativity and flexibility are major assets to those confronted with perplexing and seeming unsolvable problems (p.24). All crisis helpers are equipped with many skills and these skills have to be used in specific and creative ways personalized to the client’s needs and crisis. Sometimes to solve the crisis, untraditional and unconventional approaches need to be used. Helpers also cannot approach a crisis with a fixed and rigid formula but instead should have “a tentative plan for how to address it, combined with a readiness to let go of that approach if it does not work,” (Miller, 2012, p.6). Creating solutions is time sensitive and by being flexible to try and use different approaches, the helper will be more effective to lead the client through a comfortable intervention.

Energy and resiliency are required for crisis intervention as crisis situations can be very demanding. Being energized is largely dependent on the worker themselves to take care of their own physical and psychological needs so that their energy level remains high (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.15). Resilience on the other hand is also essential because it is natural for helpers to face failure no matter how capable or committed they were and when times of failure arise, helpers need be able to move forward and not face a meltdown.

As mentioned previously, crisis intervention compared to other therapies is time critical and helpers must have quick mental reflexes to “deal with the constantly emerging and changing issues that occur in the crisis,” (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.15). Helpers need to be able to think quickly on their feet and make quick evaluations and decisions as there is no time to reflect and slowly mull over the crisis. There is also a need for the helper to be comfortable in making decisions on their own because most of the time, they do not have another person supervising them.

Finally, one of the other trait a crisis helper should posses is the potential and desire to grow and change. Doing crisis intervention is not a static work as there is constant and rapid change in this field. The helper needs to change after each contact with a client because “successful resolution of the crisis results in two products, the first is helping the client overcome the crisis and second, effecting positive change in the helper as a result of the encounter,” (James & Gilliland, 2001, p.15).

In conclusion, I agree that not everyone is suitable to do crisis intervention because a crisis requires helpers who share a number of characteristics to demonstrate competency in their professional skills. Helpers ought to maintain poise when confronting a situation, to be creative and flexibility in their approach to deal with the situation, to be able to have energy and resilience, to be able to have quick mental reflexes and also have the potential to grow from each encounter of crisis. All of these characteristics are of enormous value to the helper and to the client and without them it is unlikely to be able to assist the client to reduce the dangers of crisis and facilitate a positive resolution.

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Personalisation is a new government strategy which has been set up to support service users who need support or care from adult social care. This policy is a new approach in supporting disabled people to enable them to lead more independent lives and exercise choice and control over the services they receive (Social Care Institute for Excellence, 2010). The overall aim is for service users to have control over how money is allocated to their care is spent, this includes direct payments, individual budgets, personal budgets, user led services, self directed support. As well as, support brokerage which would involve professionals from the wider fields of healthcare, including occupational therapists, and non professionals to provide advice and support for them (Mandelstam, 2010).

A personal health budget will enable a service user to decide how to use the money that the National Health Service has allocated to them for their care needs. It could just be a discussion with a doctor or other health care professionals, such as a care manager about the different ways the money could be spent on a care plan, or alternatively patients will be able to receive a cash payment to allow them to buy the care which has been agreed in the plan themselves (Stobbs, 2010).

The Department of Health (2007a) also state that this is a move away from the traditional welfare system to a more consumer type model of service provision which in turn will improve the quality of people’s lives. Although elements of this new policy are not legally defined, service users will be fully involved in accessing their own needs by having a personal budget by means of a direct payment, which in turn gives them control of the money.

Lymbery (2010) argues that there appears to be little recognition of the complexities and contradictions which characterize some areas of the policy, as well as having in inadequate resources bases for adult social care.

However, Dunning (2009) suggests that as the personalisation agenda advances the role of advocacy and support brokerage will be of increasing importance. However as Mandlestam (2010) argues that brokers need not be local authority employees or even professionals, which can place individuals at risk. If personalisation is to achieve its core aims, it will be essential that those accessing individual budgets can refer to sources of advice and support. Councils will also have to strike the right balance between giving people the freedom to choose their own care and protecting clients and their budgets from abuse. In addition, Mandelstam (2010) also believes that professionals will benefit from moving away from financial ‘gate-keeping’ to that of brokerage and advocacy.

Duffy & Gillespie (2009) discuss in their report that there appears to be some conflict between personalisation and safeguarding. The conflict has arisen through people thinking that that the ideas linked to the term ‘personalisation’ and those linked to the term ‘safeguarding’ is that this conflict is more likely to be a deep misunderstanding about both ideas rather than conflict. They have identified these misunderstandings around personalisation and safeguarding as; the goal for personalisation is freedom from control, not safety; the practice of personalisation is less concerned with the reduction of risk; and the rules and systems required for personalisation will increase risk. Although Pitt (2010) states that safeguarding and personalisation are seen as two sides of the same coin.

Also, they discuss the procedure with regard to the complex cases of vulnerability and abuse where careful risk management and person centred practice is required. Self-Directed Support is enshrined within the personalisation policy and states that before any individual receives any support services, six vital checks for risk are to be completed which are; First Contact, Assessment, Capacity Test, Support Planning, Plan Review and Sign-Off Outcome Review. As well as this, Self-directed support is very flexible and holds a number of tools which make it easier to solve complex cases. Resources are targeted at outcomes as this identifies the right level of funding applicable to the particular situation and needs of the individual. High quality planning; which commands that the social worker/occupational therapist identifies the best approach for the individual. Risk assessment; especially where abuse is suspected or criminal measures might become necessary, police may play an integral part to the final decision on the balance of risk. Appropriate control,; self directed support puts control of the funding into the hands of the appropriate person, such as a carer or a professional. Appropriate support; local authorities have to ensure that individuals can receive the help to manage their support that being traditional services, new or systems of peer support. Flexible resources; should be used creatively to support individuals and finally Outcome review; is essential which plays an integral part of the risk management process for the local authority.

However, as Mandelstam (2010) points out personalisation may not always work for vulnerable adults who are unable to express choices, unless they are adequately supported. Shortages of resources in some local authorities could threaten the availability of the vital support which is needed for individuals, and therefore for this system to work it is not to be seen as a cost cutting measure.

Duffy & Gillespie (2010) report that there is a misconceived idea that personalisation is simply about ‘freedom’ and treating safeguarding as it is simply about ‘control’ is wrong and to enable a person to have a good life balance you have to balance between freedom and control. Safety is one of the key goals in personalisation as control can be personalised because designing support arrangements need to be tailored to fit the person and need be justified with regard for their capacity, effectiveness and proportionality.

They also state that control does not guarantee safety, for example the current community care system is poor in providing individuals to exercise freedom and control. Individuals who need support often find they have little or no choice over the support they can receive as most social care services struggle to provide personalised support due to bureaucracy that surrounds them. This in turn can create dependency or frustration which can easily place individuals at greater risk.

The idea that personalisation may increase the risk of abuse in some way has been suggested by many professionals (Lymbery,2010. Duffy & Gillespie (2009) argue that personalisation is committed to improving safety as integral part of promoting well-being and enhancing citizenship along with offering techniques and approaches such as self-directed support which provides the framework for minimising the risk of harm and protecting vulnerable people from abuse. Personalisation is about designing support arrangements so they are more personal to the service user.

McGauran (2010) points out in her report that occupational therapists are placed well within the personalisation agenda as they are the only allied health professional who are widely employed throughout social and health care sectors. Personalisation is congruent to the philosophy of occupational therapy as the heart of its practice is to be client centred, and therefore occupational therapists need to seize these opportunities to pilot new ways of delivering this service which would be of benefit to the clients and enhance professional practice.

An example of this can be seen when an individual is given choice and control of a personal budget to purchase personal or nursing care for an older adult, then it would give the individual personal control over how, when and by whom the care or equipment should be provided. This philosophy is embraced with the College of Occupational Therapists Code of Ethics that ‘occupational therapists shall at all times recognise, respect and uphold the autonomy of clients, and advocate client choice.’ (College of Occupational Therapists 2005, p.2.1).

Social Care Institute for Excellence (2010) agree that occupational therapists are skilled in finding and tailoring individual solutions for people in different care settings and aim to improve the quality of life, as well as a facilitator of learning needs and can work collaboratively with people who use services, their carers, families, friends and other social care and health professionals to co-design and co-produce care and support.

Social Care Institute for Excellence (2010) believes also that by introducing this new agenda it will allow service users to become empowered and enable them to design the support packages for themselves or choose how they want to live. This in turn will enable service users to feel that are being supported in staying well and ensure that they have access to public services. This approach undoubtedly has the potential to improve the quality of people’s lives and give occupational therapists the opportunity to use their skills and expertise.

Over 70 health projects have been chosen by the Department of Health across England to pilot personal health budgets and a formal evaluation has been carried out by the Department of Health (Department of Health, 2009). Evidence suggests that although it was popular with younger disabled people, many of the older age service users found they were put off by the complexities of the scheme, especially around issues of becoming an employer if they needed to appoint paying carers (McGauran, 2010).

As Mandelstem (2010) points out there is some confusion in the legislation in the personalisation agenda as there is no new legislation or detailed statutory guidance to support this. The Department of Health have set up a ‘toolkit’ that fits personalisation into legislation but it is inadequate and contains errors. Therefore suggesting that there could be risks involved in the transformation of social care.

What is apparent from evidence on pilot studies is very early to say what the full impact of personal budgets will be on occupational therapy staff and other professionals, and that it is most likely that developments of personal health budgets need to significantly change cultural values throughout the National Health Service (Stobbs, 2010).

Personalisation in social care does have potential benefits in giving service users choice and control over their care services. Although there is no doubt that it does have some potential pitfalls. What can be recognised from this new approach is that safeguarding is essential to all service users especially complex cases where careful risk management and person centred practice are essential.

However, personalisation is in its infancy stage and a lot more debate is needed around this new policy for service users to feel confident in new transformation of our healthcare system. Equally, this can be seen as an excellent opportunity for occupational therapists to demonstrate that they are well equipped to take the lead in this personalised agenda as it sits well in the role of their profession.

In this easy, I will be discussing personalisation in considering its key elements. Looking at the impact of Fair Access to Care Services (FACS) in meeting service user needs. How it contradict in particular the notion of choice, control and independence for old people. I will also the implications for social work practice, and my own personal practice in an anti-discriminatory point of view.

The adult transforming agenda is focused on the development of personalisation of support. The 2006 Community Services White Paper, Our Health, Our Care, Our Say, announced the piloting of Individual Budgets. Personalisation had its beginnings in Direct Payment which was introduced in 1987, were people who are eligible for social care can choose to receive a cash sum in lieu of services (Henwood &Nigel, 2007).

The development of Transforming Social Care is driven by the demographic pressures and changes to public expectations. According to Chandler (2009, p2) “by 2022 20% of English population will be over 65 and the number of those over 85 will have increased by 60%”. The development of better housing options and extra care housing will be crucial for the future. Majority of older people will expect to live in their own homes for as long as they possibly can. And with more people living longer and requiring support, an increasing number of families will feel the impact of these demographic changes (Chandler,2009) [online]. One of the objectives of Putting People First was to champion the rights and needs of older people in their local authority and public services within a policy, which will involve them as active citizens who may or may not need support. However, these expectations cannot be met through traditional approaches to delivering of social care services.

A fundamental change in Adult Social care is required in order to ensure that the needs of each person can be met in a way that suits their personal individual circumstances. Putting people first (DOH 2009), laid out the vision for change in social careaˆ¦ “this vision is of a new social care system that helps people stay healthyaˆ¦aˆ¦ through a focus on prevention, early intervention and enablement, and high quality personally tailored services for those who need ongoing care social care support This new policy is referred to as “personalisation”.

According to Lloyd (2010, p 189), “the term personalisation is very contentious” she further cited Boxall et al (2009) distinguishing between personalisation which focuses on the particular needs of individuals to the preference of one size-fits-all approach of services. The self directed support is about the control that service users can exert over the definition of their needs and the ways in which these should be met. In policy terms, personalisation is both “the way in which services are tailored to the needs and preferences of citizens” and how the state empowers citizens “to shape their own lives and the services they receive” (according to the Department of Health, document Transform Social Care, Local Authority Circular 2008, p4).

Personalisation was introduced in government policy in 2007 when the Putting People First: A shared vision and commitment to transformation of adult care (DOH, 2007) Concordat was published. This outlined the reforms for social care. The key elements in the document where;

Self Assessment,

Individual Budget,

Choice, Control, Independence.

However, because personalisation is only a policy it is implemented differently across social care services. Proponents of personalisation argue that the need to personalise services arise because, services were institutionalised and driven by professional, managerial and economic agendas, rather than those of service users (Lloyd, 2010).

Historically and currently, a person in need of social care services is assessed by a social worker and other agencies. Then they decide the type of support the service user will receive, who from, where and when. For a couple of years now the government has been moving towards changing that system to one which the person in need of social care gets to decide the type of support they need and how, and this is now known as personalisation.

The drivers behind personalisation are found in the Our Health, Our Care, and Our Say White Paper (DOH). It suggests that people will be happier, healthier, and have better prospects for the future if they are put in control of their social care support.

According to Harris & White () a “milestone in the pronounced shift by new labour towards personalisation was the Adult Social Care Green Paper, Independence, Wellbeing and Choice. This saw the introduction of individual budgets as the principle route to personalisation (Harris & White).

The Department of Health describes personalisation as an approach in which “every person who receives support, whether provided by statutory services or funded by themselves, will have a choice and control over the shape of that support in all care settings” Brody(2009) [online]. One key issue identified by Griffiths (2009, p3) is that “individual budgets offers a aˆ¦ a chance to empower ‘service users’ in their dealings with public services and it puts the service user at the heart of public service reform. This is one of the key values of Putting People First (2007), to ensure people in need of social care have the best possible quality of life and the equality of independence living. Griffiths (20009, p2) further argues that individual’s budget will give “service users a greater choiceaˆ¦. by giving money to the service user to purchase services from a plurality of providers”.

However, Forster (2002.p, 85) identified that there is “little or no choice for elderly people. They can only have choice if the cost of their care is within the amount allocated by local Authority (LA) or if social workers agreed that it is suitable”. This was also highlighted by Hudson& Henwood (2008), in the CSCI document Prevention, Personalisation, and Prioritisation in social Care, that the “coexistence aˆ¦ of self directed support alongside the Fair Access to Care (FACS) criteria have create some tensions” while personalisation is concerned about promoting and maximising the choice and control of service users.” it fails to determine how the eligibility of those groups is defined (Dodd, 2009) [online]

The FACS policy guidance was publish in 2002 as a Local Authority Circular LAC (2002) 13. That Provides local authority with an eligibility framework for setting and applying their local criteria with the aim of ensuring fairer and more consistent eligibility decisions across the country (DOH).

As Crawford & Walker (2004), points out this system is failing to distribute resources to people who will benefit from early intervention. For example there are a growing number of old people with lower level needs who are likely to develop higher needs in the absence of responsive support. According to Dodd (2010), “using one of the four levels within the Fair Access to Care services (FACS) banding as a threshold for rationing resources is too rigid an instrument for fairly and responsively allocate social care budget”. He goes on to argue that currently, “people with proven care needs are not receiving the services they need”. Therefore as long as the FACS criteria remains in place as a rationing mechanism, it will be impossible to realise the universal model of self directed support envisaged within the personalisation agenda(Dodd,2010)[online]

The CSCI report argues that as the government is concerned to hold down public spending “eligibility criteria are a key mechanism, serving to regulate service provision in line with available resources and identified priorities”. In the current financial climate were resources are tight, these criteria can be adjusted by the local authority in order to narrow access to care support. Lloyd (2010), policy makers are more focused on the economic challenges than the needs of older people.

The implications for social workers according to Adams (2009, p145) is the amount of time they will have to spend with service users and carers who have individual budgets “to help them gain the necessary knowledge and skills they may need to manage their budgets”. Also, another limitation to personalization and individual budget has been identified by Griffiths (2009) that the current economic climate may pose a threat for individual budgets and may not survive the planned government spending cuts for the next few years.