Evaluation of Practice Paper 1

Evaluation of Practice Paper Victoria Schwager Wayne State University SW 4442 Field Seminar 2 March 5th, 2014

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Introduction: For the past six months I have been interning at Turning Point of Macomb County, which is a non-profit organization that deals with victims/survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Turning Points mission is to provide programs and resources that enable victims/survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to regain control of their lives. Turning Point has multiple different departments that make it run such as our Shelter, FNEP, Family Youth and Programs, Prevention, Crisis Line, CAP, Second Hand Rose, and finally Support Services. Support Service is where I am located within Turning Point. The Support Services department is the counseling department. We offer long term counseling for victims/survivors of domestic violence and/or sexual assault. Support Services has individual and family counseling as well as group counseling. In the previous agency paper I had discussed all of the departments in full. But now, I will be discussing myself within the Support Services department of Turning Point. Evaluate: As stated above the support services department of Turning Point is responsible for the group counseling, Turning Point offers a trauma, empowerment and a support group to all the victims/survivors. Within my internship I have been given the opportunity to work with the support group once and the trauma group twice. Within these groups I evaluate my practice by using the competency 2.1.10 Engage, assess, intervene, evaluate with individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. By analyzing, monitoring and evaluating interventions with the group I am able to make better connections with the group members and I am able to provide them with the services they need. With evaluating my group system I use an intervention

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like the support and trauma groups to help me achieve this evaluation. By having each group member perform surveys at the end of each group it allows evaluations to be done about the group to see where we are within the group and what we need to work on. Impact: Working in a group setting can allow for some one on one time. In the support group that I was co-facilitating I had the opportunity to do some one on one work. I got the chance to work with one in particular, Mary (pseudonym). Mary is a client at Turning Point for groups and individual counseling; she is currently going through a lot so material that is covered in group has triggered memories for Mary. When this happens I have gone into the hallway to help her during the rough time. I have been told specifically from Mary about the impact that I have made in her life. She has thanked me multiple times for helping her during her time of need. I also have been able to find out about the impact that Ive been making by the use of surveys. At the end of every meeting we pass out a survey which allows the facilitators to see the work that has been done as well as the work that still needs to be done. Skills: Determining the skills that I need in order for me to work in my current field placement setting was a difficult task for me to assemble. I thought about the skills that I had and I kept coming up blank, thinking to myself you dont have any skills or so it seemed like. However, as time went on my skills started to become clear to me. While interning, I work a lot with a Domestic Violence therapist, after a group session is over her and I begin to process what happens in our groups. During one of our processing sessions, the therapist had made a comment about how much I was improving in my skills. Having it pointed out to me made me see things

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in a different light. It wasnt until then that I got to begin my list of skills. The rest came with time. First and foremost a major skill that one needs in order to work at my current field placement is competency 2.1.1 Identify as a professional social worker and conduct oneself accordingly. In order to succeed you need to be confident in what you are doing, have faith in yourself and if you follow the first competency of identify as a professional you will begin to feel like a professional which helps you in your confidence with the rest of your skills. Next skill that I need while interning at Turning Point is having computer skills and knowledge. Personally, I need to know basic computer knowledge in order to perform tasks within my internship. Turning Point has a computer system called ALICE which is used for client information, case notes, intakes and etc. Having basic computer knowledge helps me use and run ALICE. Empathy, paraphrasing, furthering responses, listening and observing and clarifying questions are all important skills for me to have at my current field placement. I use all of those skills while working with my weekly group or when I am one on one with a client. Its important for the clients to know that we are listening to them. By listening and observing I am able to have a better understanding of what the client is sharing. If I am confused by something a client has said I use clarifying questions so they know I am engaged and interest in what they are telling me. This also helps the client know that I am listening to them. Paraphrasing and furthering responses are also important skills to have while working at my current field placement because when used they allow for the client to open up which allows us to help them more. Using empathy is always important because it shows that we are able to identify with what the client is saying. Finally, I feel as if I am constantly gaining new skills as I continue on with my education and I find that to be a great strength. Skills are constantly developing and improving as time goes on. It took me

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time to realize but skills are constantly and forever growing and developing as your experiences build. Proper Fit: The population that my current field placement serves is domestic violence and/or sexual assault victims/survivors. When I first started applying for internships Turning Point was not my original placement. I had interviewed and was accepted to intern at C.A.R.E. A few months after finding out that I landed that agency I was told that there were internal issues and they could no longer take interns. I had no clue what was going to happen. All I knew was that school started shortly and I had no internship. I was nerve racked. I ended up getting an interview with Turning Point in the Support Services department and had landed it. I was excited to have a new internship but I was nervous about working with this population. I have never been a victim/survivor of abuse and I was nervous as to how I could relate with the people that I was potentially going to work with. If I was asked this question in the beginning of the semester, I would have said no, that the population and field of practice was not a good fit because I felt that I didnt have the proper knowledge to help these clients out. However, now that I have been interning at Turning Point for six plus months I have a completely different outlook on this question. In the beginning of my internship I went through 44 hours of training. This training had helped me gain knowledge in this particular population. As time went on at my internship and as I got to see more aspects of Turning Point, I felt that I had gained a great deal of knowledge. I felt more confident to work with these women and children regardless of my past or not. So answering this question now, I would have to say that Turning Point is a good fit for me because I have learned a great deal of information and have developed relationships with the staff and a trust with the clients.

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Improve: When working with a client in particular there are many areas for improvement. Mainly, Id like to improve my furthering responses. At time when I am in the moment using furthering responses escapes me, they happen occasionally just not as much as Id like. Id also like to improve my knowledge with competency 2.1.8 Engage in policy practice to advance social and economic well-being and to deliver effective social work services. I do this in my current field placement and have used this in the classroom but Id like to be more aware of this. Lastly, Id really like to improve my procrastination when it comes to assignments. I let myself think I have all this time and then before I know it I feel behind and rushed to complete my work. As social workers we will constantly be improving and developing. Ethical: Interning at Turning Point has given me so many opportunities that I never thought were possible. I have been opened to community outreach, group settings and even individual work. While interning I have not seen a ton of ethical issues but I have been exposed to one. During our most recent support group one of the clients wanted to bring her sister and best friend. As an agency we decided that wasnt the greatest idea and relayed that to her. However, once the group that night started she had brought them with her which led us to having to tell her that next time they couldnt be there. Having the clients best friend and sister made us question whether this was right or wrong and if it was in the best interest of the group. In the end the situation ended up working out and we had a successful support group. Understanding:

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My current field placement had taught me more than I could have ever imagined. I have learned about the values of social work profession and it has assisted me in the development of ethics for social work practice. I have had my mind opened up to a whole new world within social work. I was very hesitant in the beginning to work with the population of abused women but working with this population I have learned a lot of about my own values as well. I have learned that standing up for whats right may not always be the easiest thing to do but in the end its completely worth it. Conclusion: In conclusion, my current field placement has been a blessing in disguise. As stated above I was not originally supposed to be at Turning Point. This had me upset and nervous about not having a good experience but now looking back this is exactly what was supposed to happen to me. I feel as if Turning Point was the best place for me to be for my internship, I learned so much about the social work profession and about myself. I have been exposed to areas of social work I didnt know would happen. In the end, Im extremely grateful for all the opportunities I had as I feel it has made me a better social worker.