Sports Illustrated Writer Makes Social Work Seem Like Bad Habit
Chris Henry. Photo courtesy of Cincinnati Bengals.
Jeers to Sports Illustrated columnist Paul Daugherty for putting down the social work profession in a recent column.
Daugherty criticized Cincinnati Bengals football team president Mike Brown for allegedly coddling troublesome players such as Chris Henry, who died this week in a bizarre truck accident involving his fiancee.
We don’t have a problem with Daugherty’s views about Brown. But why did he have to put social workers into the mix? He wrote:
“It was Brown who proclaimed himself ‘a redeemer’ and re-signed Henry in August 2008, over the public objection of Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. If Henry were a symbol of all that was wrong with the Bengals between 2006 and 2008, so was Brown, the forgiving owner prone to social work with miscreant players.”
Q: Daugherty’s comment seems to imply social workers are weak and ineffective. Do you agree with this reading of his statement?
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Although I am not a clinical social worker, I worked in the Mental Health field for 10 years. My experience has been that much of treatment today is based upon evidenced based practice. The presenting problem is identified, a baseline determined, goals set and worked on. Much of the media’s concept of social work is based on preconceived ideas of what social work is. Even in community based social work, an assessment is done, a baseline is determined (Commerical Strip with 5 stores) and a goal is set (develop a commercial strip with 20 stores over 5 year period).
In clinicial social work, therapist use such as the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Geriatric Depression Rating Scale, Jasper-Goldberg ADHD Test, or the Prodromal Screening Test for Schizophrenia.
In community social work, some approaches involve in-depth surveys like door to door canvassing, extensive interviews such as a neighborhood skills inventory, GIS mapping technology, and complex processes like asset mapping, youth mapping, community resource mapping, and creating community visions and plans (strategic planning).
Not only is today’s social work is evidenced based, strategic and scientific it is also client-based. That means that the client works with the social worker to deterrmine needs and develops outcomes. Social workers use scientific tools to measure outputs. Our goals are now SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely–not some abstract idea of what is or is not good for an individual, community or group.
While I am not a clinical social worker, I did work in the mental health field for ten years and know that todays clincial social worker uses evidenced based treatment. For those who are not familiar with this term, it simply refers to preferential use of mental and behavioral health interventions wherein systematic empirical research has provided evidence of statistically significant effectiveness as treatments for specific problems.
Community social workers, of which I am one, use tools to provide a useful starting point for more focused efforts. These tools include the use of GIS– the geographic information system, the GIS captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that is linked to a location and can be mapped within the neighborhood. Overlay can also be provided to determine ethinic and economic social group. We also develop a neighborhood skills based inventory, a business inventory and a resource inventory to map community assets, do door-to-door canvassing ( collect, analyze, and act on the strengths and resources of the community), as well as create community visions and plans (strategic plans). In addition, we also use the traditional need assessment (a process for identifying gaps in services and developing priorities order for resolution). Today’s community social worker sets SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) goals.
I agree with DeMecia, she made some valid points. Although “Social Work” is hopefully known as a “Helping Profession” or “caring profession”, social workers are to adhere to a “Code of Ethics”. The “Code of Ethics” help social workers make complex decisions within difficult scenarios, which is best for the consumer(s). Thus, many people may infer that social workers are weak, but it’s hard to juggle a complex situation, which is best for all respective consumers (i.e.: Systems Perspective, etc).
Social Workers also have an extended history of “Advocacy”!! When you’re an advocate, there is no room for being weak, because one must stand up for the oppressed, vulnerable, etc. despite all portrayed obstacles!!!!
Keep up the good work Social Workers!!!