therapist, occupational therapist) who can intervene on all levels. Some social workers, as well as rehabilitation professionals, specialize in these diseases and their unique challenges.
Ideally, social workers can provide the best care in an ongoing relationship with clients in which trust can be built over time. Regular visits afford the social worker the opportunity to understand the client’ s perspective, strengths, and unique challenges— and to work with clients to develop a mutually agreed upon treatment plan. Sometimes clients meet with a social worker only once— for a specific issue, for information about a service, or at a point of transition or crisis. Some patients and their families also talk with social workers at periodic intervals, as specific needs emerge during the course of the disease.
Social workers aim to understand each person and family’ s unique situation and goals. Therefore, social work intervention is not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every case is viewed and treated individually. What one couple or family finds helpful may be very different for another couple. For example, one couple wants help to remain in their own home, while another couple wants to understand assisted living options and locating an appropriate residential community. Furthermore, it is fairly common for one person in a couple to see a situation differently from the other, or for adult children to hold different views from one another. A woman with PSP may believe she can still travel the world, while the husband / carepartner feels quite reluctant about this. Or one adult child views Dad as“ not changed at all,” while the other adult child treats Dad as helpless. These kinds of different perspectives can create new conflict or cause old conflicts to re-emerge. Social workers are trained, experienced, and successful at dealing with these kinds of issues.
Reasons to See a Clinical Social Worker
• To better understand the disease and to discuss reactions to receiving the diagnosis
• To talk about when and how to share the diagnosis with family members and friends, or at the workplace
• To find new ways to cope with feelings such as sadness, depression, anger, fear, or frustration
• To develop new attitudes and habits of flexibility, persistence, and adaptation, with a focus not on cure but rather on living the best life possible and creating new meaning
• To plan for the future, including advance directives, insurance issues, home care, and housing options
• To express and deal with losses— physical, emotional, and social
• To adapt to changes in family roles and dynamics, such as taking on the role of carepartner
• To find ways to build or maintain good communication with a carepartner and other family members
• To deal with different kinds of reactions and myths or misinformation of family, friends, and the general public
• To learn about and access resources: community services, programs, classes, and support groups
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Resources a Social Worker Might Suggest
• Associations like CurePSP
• Home safety evaluation
• Workplace accommodation
• Driver safety evaluation
• Social Security Disability
• Legal assistance
• Exercise classes and videos