This document discusses social service work with individuals and families. It covers types of service users including voluntary and involuntary clients. Social service work involves creating helping relationships to effect positive changes through improved self-esteem, social functioning, problem solving and analysis. Theories are used to help understand issues. Critical self-reflection is important for social workers to understand how their own identities are shaped. The document also discusses working with families, covering family types and common stages of independence, coupling, parenting, launching children, and retirement. Statistics on families in Canada from 2006 are presented on topics like marriage trends, lone parent families, and implications.

1. Working With Individuals
Social Service Work
1

2. Working with Individuals &
Families
2

3. Individuals and Families…
3

4. Types of Service Users
Voluntary clients
People who have chosen to seek help from a social service
worker
Involuntary clients
Those who are legally obligated to accept services
(Hick, 2010, p. 83)
4

5. Social Service Work with Individuals
“People may be embedded in a web of connections with others
and with the institutions of society, but every life is
experienced uniquely, and its quality is determined solely by
the person living it (Jaco, 2002. p. 255)”.
5

6. Terminology
“Casework with individuals refers to a method of social work
intervention in which the worker intentionally creates a
helping relationship with a client that enables dialogue,
interaction, and influence to occur, with the purpose of
effecting positive changes in client thought feeling or action,
or in the social environment he or she inhabits (Jaco, 2002, p.
257)”.
6

7. Clinical Social Work
“a newer term for this same activity [casework], but one that
includes clearly linking clients to resources, coordinating
services, and advocacy (Swenson, 1995 as referenced in Jaco,
2002, p.257)”.
7

8. Direct Practice
Similar to above but “helping interventions at the micro-level
provided to individuals, couples, families, in contrast to indirect
or macro level practice which takes place at the community or
policy change (Jaco, 2002, p.257)
8

9. Therapy
“work in which social and psychological means are used to
enable individuals (single or in family or formed groups) to
cope with environmental, interpersonal and/or intrapsychic
dilemmas – and the interactions among these- that are
causing personal distress (Woods & Hollis, 1990 as quoted in
Jaco, 2002, p. 257)
9

10. Shared Elements (Jaco, 2002, p. 257)
Concern for internal and external life of the client
Concern for the manner in which these interact
Goal to strengthen the client to cope with pressures and
demands from within and without
Purpose of achieving a sound level of functioning
10

11. Goals
Improved:
• Self-esteem
• Social functioning
• Problem solving
• Analysis
11

12. Theory
“[A] theory is an attempt to explain. It is, in short, a framework
for understanding. It is a set of ideas linked together to help
make us make sense of particular issue or set of issues
(Thompson, 2000, p.22).”
12

13. Critical Self-Reflection (Hick, 2010, p. 97)
Critical self reflection – “knowledge about ones self
(Mullaly, 2002, as quoted in Hick, 2010, p.97)”
It is important for SSW to “understand how their
own identities, beliefs, and their professional and
personal lives are shaped by forces in society such
as the media, parental influence, educational
institutions and social structures (Hick, 2010, p.
97)?
13

14. Working with Families
14

15. Family
• Types of families - traditional, blended, single parent, same
sex, other….
• Family issues – divorce, separation, domestic violence, child
welfare, adoption
15

16. Definition of Family
The Vanier Institute of the Family defines “family” as:
Any combination of two or more persons who are bound
together over time by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or
adoption or placement and who, together, assume
responsibilities for variant combinations of some of the
following:
 Physical maintenance and care of group members
 Addition of new members through procreation or adoption
 Socialization of children
 Social control of members
 Production, consumption, distribution of goods and services, and
 Affective nurturance — love
(Vanier Institute, 2012)
16

17. “Family Portrait” (Statistics Canada 2006)
8,896,840 families up 6.3% from 2001
• 6,105,910 married up 3.5% from 2001
• 1,376,865 common-law up 18.9% from 2001
• 1,414,060 lone-parent families up 7.8% from 2001
17

18. Families in Canada (Statistics Canada 2006)
Family Type 2001 2006
Married 70.5% 68.6%
Common-law 13.8% 15.5%
Lone-parent 15.7% 15.9%
Same-sex couples
(includes married
couples)
n.d. 0.6%
18

19. What are the implications from the
research? (Statistics Canada, 2006)
• 2006 was the first time unmarried (51.5%) outnumbered
married people
• 20 years ago only 38.6% were unmarried
19

20. What are the implications from the
research? (Statistics Canada, 2006)
2001-2006 11.8% increase in one-person households
2001-2006 11.2% increase in couples without children
aged 24 and under
2001-2006 0.4% increase in couples and children aged
24 years and under
20

21. What are the implications from the
research? (Statistics Canada, 2006)
• 2006, 43.5% of the 4 million young adults aged 20-29 lived in
the parental home – 20 years ago the figure was 32.1%
• Ontario is 51.5% (next only to N-L at 52.2%)
21

22. Common Family Stages (HealthLinkBC, 2012)
Independence
Coupling
Parenting
Launching adult children
Retirement
22

23. Vanier institute Fact Sheet Fathers in
Canada (June 2012)
Total Number of Father in Canada 8.1 million
Lone Parent Fathers 338,000
Stay at Home Dads (2 parent families) 54,000
Stay at home parents who were fathers 1984 & 2008 3% & 10%
Average time spent daily caring for children 3.1h
Average daily time spent performing paid work 6h
Proportion who claim to be more involved with their children than
their father was
75%
23

24. Vanier Institute Fact Sheet Mothers in
Canada (May 2012)
Total number of mothers in Canada 9.2 million
The number of mothers with children under the age of 18 living with
them
3.9million
Employment rate for mothers with school aged children 1976 and 2009 39% - 73%
The amount of time spent daily by mother in unpaid work 4.6h
The amount of time spent daily by women caring for children 0 - 4 6.6h
The median net worth of lone parent families headed by a female – the
lowest of any family type (2009)
$17,000
The extent to which, on average, women without children out earn
women with children – this gap increases with the number of children
12%
24

25. Independence Stage (HealthLinkBC, 2012)
• Emotional, physical, social, & financial independence
• Intimacy - ability to develop & maintain close relationships
25

26. Coupling Stage (HealthLinkBC, 2012)
Developing a new family together
Adjustments to relationships with friends & family
Committed to making it work
Needs of another to consider
26

27. Parenting (HealthLinkBC, 2012)
Ability to communicate well, maintain your
relationships, and solve problems are tested
Provide a safe, loving, and organized
environment
Divorce, & extramarital affairs
27

28. “Empty Nest” (HealthLinkBC, 2012)
Children leave home - "empty nest”
Developing adult relationships with your children
Spouses may no longer feel compatible
Health and energy levels decline
Caring for aging parents
28

29. Retirement (HealthLinkBC, 2012)
New family members – grandchildren
Children marry or divorce
Caring for elderly parents
Physical & mental abilities may decline
Financial or social status decline
Death of family members
29

30. References
HealthLinkBC. (2012). Family life cycle. Retrieved August 24, 2012 from
http://www.healthlinkbc.ca/kb/content/special/ty6171.html
Hick, S. (2010). Social work in Canada: An introduction. Toronto, ON.,
Canada: Thompson Educational Publishing.
Jaco. M. (2002). Individual treatment. In F. Turner (Ed.), Social work
practice: a Canadian perspective (pp. 255- 269). Toronto : Prentice Hall.
Ridgely, E. (2002). Family treatment. In F. Turner (Ed.), Social work
practice: a Canadian perspective (pp. 270- 281). Toronto : Prentice Hall.
Statistics Canada. (2006). 2006 Census: Families, marital status, households
and dwelling characteristics. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/070912/dq070912a-eng.htm
The Vanier Institute of the Family. ( 2012). Definition of the family.
Retrieved July 4, 2012 from h
ttp://www.vanierinstitute.ca/definition_of_family
30