Publications from ODSW Social Insights: Letters by DSW (Vol 1) | Page 52
Social Work and First Principles
• Where a person is severely constrained by a circumstance and requires
co-ordinated support to achieve at least a reasonable degree of
independence and autonomy, social workers can lead in getting various
parties to collaborate in the interest of the client.
• Where people need to overcome social and practical obstacles and
challenges to manage their lives, social workers will work in a personcentred way to enable the perspective of the client to be considered.
A person’s problems may be episodic or long-term and particularly so
in the case of care management. This often requires multi-agency case
conferencing for creative and personalised solutions drawn from each
particular set of circumstances. We can see this being practised in long
term care and public guardianship situations.
Community social work and prevention
Community social work here will become increasingly important in enabling
people to live as active citizen s in their communities despite reduced abilities
that result from a variety of circumstances including deteriorating health. This
is where preventative services should also be a priority. To some extent, the
work of Social Service Offices is about refocusing teams towards community
minded initiatives.
One of the collaborative type of work that can be developed at local
communities is the bringing of older people together through key voluntary,
private and statutory services to identify how to collectively meet the needs
of a group of people who may require more neighbourly support even if they
do receive social care.
While the Agency for Integrated Care helps to bring a multi-disciplinary team
approach, there is a need for local communities to step up in neighbourhood
level support for daily mutual support and befriending. Such an approach
is extremely helpful as it brings people together to provide support through
monitoring the circumstances in their neighbourhoods, and thus allowing
services to be accessed in a timelier manner wherever possible.
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