Module 1: Introduction to Social Welfare

What is Social Welfare?

Income Security
Three levels of government participate in income security
- Federal level = Old age security, employment insurance
- Provincial level = Ontario works, Ontario Disabilities Program
- Municipal level = cost sharing with the province

Historical Look

40’s people coming from war.

Economy has much to do with the social safety net, as does politics and ideologies.
Notion that the government is big and bad
- Want people to be responsible for themselves
 - Contrary to thinking that was very pervasive in post WWII era in which people
wanted to have this sense of universality,
o Ex. Health care system
What is Social Work?
One professional group or activity that happens within the broader social welfare system.

Social Policies and Social Programs

Social policy is first  Government develops policy stance or agenda legislation and
money to support that legislation  translates into social programs  Translates into more
programs

Policies  Programs  Services

The provision of Social welfare

Hick’s Version
Three types of Service Providers in Canada
1. Public Welfare
2. Non-profit
3. For-profit

Brenner’s version
There are basically two types of service providers:
1. Public welfare
o Direct
o Non-governmental
2. Private Welfare
o For-profit
o Not-for-profit

Public Welfare
1. Direct
- Government agency delivers service directly
o Employment insurance
o Old age security
o Income security programs
Quasi-public institution – university

2. Non-governmental
- Arm’s length arrangement from government
- Service is funded by government for most part.

Private Welfare
1. Not for profit
- House of friendship
- Foodbank
 - Most funding comes from other places with assistance from government
- Counselling agencies

2. For profit
- Rehabilitation clinics
- Devolution of services
o Push by government to get out of the business of providing services
o Ex. Health care

Public Welfare
Direct welfare occurs at three levels of government
1. Provincial and territorial
2. Regional and/or municipal
o Regional level (police, ambulance, etc.)
o Municipal level (recreation dept., community development)
3. Federal

Private Welfare
Non-profit organizations
- Provides service, but does not generate a profit
- Operates under government regulations
- Receives funds from government and private sources

For Profit Organizations

- Provide services for a fee
- May be purchased by individual or by the government on behalf of the individual
- Purpose is to generate a profit for the owners of the organization.
o Nursing and retirement homes
o Day care centres
o Health care clinics providing physiotherapy, chiropractic, and naturopathic
services.

Deregulation: government will not set laws, getting government out of the lives of people,
turn it over to private sector.

Approaches to Social Welfare

1. Residual View
2. Institutional View
3. Structural Approach

Residual View
- View from post-war period
- Attitude was that one needed to, ‘pick yourself up by your own boot straps’
- Need to turn to family for help or do it on your own
- Government would only step in after an individual had tried every available option.
Institutional View
- War in post-war period (depression, drought)
- Awareness that something had to be done in a more collective way to ensure that
there was a bottom below which no one would fall.
- Starts to develop social services
o Healthcare (not in all provinces until early 70’s)
o Old age pensions
o Education up to post-secondary
o Family allowance (no longer exists)
 Was part of the movement to devolve the government from certain
services and put the responsibility back on individuals and on
communities.

Structural Approach
- Structural unemployment
o Unemployed due to jobs being eliminated
o Have to be retrained for a new skill set to be able to re-enter the workforce
in this modern economy.
- Approach looks at structural things within society that perpetuate the power
arrangements and the concentration of wealth and power within the hands of such
few people.
- In terms of social work intervention, the focus is on getting people together to form
a movement, to get them politicized, and to get them working for a change.

Let’s not blame individuals. (we tend to blame individuals, it’s not the fault of the victims

What do Social Workers do?

Direct Social work
 Working directly with an individual, a family, etc.
o Family therapy
o Individual therapy
 Change lifestyle
 Improving eating habits
 Exercise
 Get off drugs
 Get rehabilitated

Indirect Social Work

 Involves working with the government to change policies (behind the scenes)

Three Areas of Social Work

1. Mezzo
2. Macro
3. Micro
Example of Woburn, Massachusetts and the drinking water issue.
- Plotting hoe many people had cancer.
- All people got the water from the same well, hence, all had cancer.

Approaches to practice
Approaches that locate the problem within:
1. The individual
2. Social structure

Social work intervention

Defining social work
1. Social Change Mandate
2. Problem Solving
3. Person in the environment
4. Empowerment

Problem Solving
- Explore individuals concerns
- Identify the needs involved
- Identify barriers to meeting needs
- Carefully determine the goals and possible plans of action

Person in the environment (Mary Richmond)

Types of Intervention
Primary intervention – Prevention: intervene at a point before the crisis
Secondary intervention – Intervene at the point of crisis (overdosed, abused, knife in the
back)
Tertiary Intervention – Rehabilitation that takes place after the crisis

Empowerment
- Making power explicit in the client worker relationships
- Giving clients experiences in which they themselves are in control
- Always supporting the client’s own efforts to gain greater control over their lives as a
way of promoting change.

The notion of empowerment goes back to the idea of structural approach.

- Structural approach argues that it is not the individual that needs to change their
situation
- Rather, there is something in the environment that is causing their problems.
Empowerment – want to get people to the point where they are actually involved in the
process to change the structural circumstances, they find themselves in
 Give them some skills, some confidence
 Connect them with people who are in the same situation
 Politicize them

Definition of Social Work Intervention

 Organized work intended to advance the social conditions of a community, and
especially of the disadvantaged, by providing psychological counselling, guidance, and
assistance, especially in the form of social services.
 Canadian Association of Social Workers’ assessment, remediation, and prevention of
social problems and the enhancement of social functioning
 Code of ethics, work to advocate on behalf of those people who are marginalized.

Module 2 – History of Social Work

In this lecture, will talk about
1. Social welfare system
2. Current thinking (world views, economic thinking)
3. Factors in the development of the social welfare system
4. Development of social work

Social work is a relatively new profession

Two Myths about Social welfare:

Myth 1: Income security programs only benefit the poor
- Whereas, income security programs benefit more than just the poor.

Myth 2: income security programs serve to keep the poor from destitution.

Some argue that the social welfare system actually does help the corporate community by
placating those in need with money

Cold War: differences between communism (US) and capitalism. Arms race was between
the two. Russia vs US.

Historical Developments in Social Work and Social Welfare

Level of commitment is derived from what citizens value and what they believe the role of
government is in their lives
 Should we have access to healthcare?
 Should everyone have a roof over their head?
 Should we be concerned about the social and personal welfare of others and to what
extent?
 Do we believe that we should each be responsible for ourselves and our families?
 Do we think there is a benefit to having a broader social safety net?

There are things that have helped to shape our world view
Do we think that everyone should have access to health care?

We are able to tolerate people living on the street

 If we all think something should be done about homelessness, something will be
done
 If we all think something should be done about child welfare, it will be done.

Professor Jeffrey Sachs, “The end of poverty”

Emergence of income security

Following WWII and the great depression of the 1930s and 1940s a new consensus
developed.
 Social Insurance
o Employment insurance
o Workers compensation
o CPP/QPP
 Minimum income
o Welfare-Ontario Works
 Demogrants
o Old age security (OAS)
o Family Allowance
 Income supplementation
o Guaranteed income supplement (GIS)
o National Child benefit supplement (NCBS)

Public Income security programs

 Employment insurance
 Workers compensation
 Social assistance
 Canada child tax benefit
 Canada/Quebec pension plan
 Old age security (OAS, GIS, SPA)

Employment Insurance
 Dates back to 1940 when it was called Unemployment Insurance
 Provides income supplement for temporarily unemployed, sickness, maternity, or
parental benefits
 Constitutional amendment was required when it was developed
 Original program wasn’t as it is today (maternity, paternity, seasonal workers)
 System tells a lot about the thinking related to the development of the social welfare
system
 Designed to protect workers against income loss due to injury in the work place

Workers compensation
 First instituted in Ontario in 1914
 One of the first pieces of social welfare legislation
  Provincially administered insurance system that not only provides money for injured
workers, but also insures the liability of corporations as well

Social Assistance
 Delivered by municipalities
 Designed to provide minimum support to the deserving poor

Canada Child tax benefit

 1944 – Family Allowance (Federal Program)
 1993 – Family Allowance eliminated and then Canada Tax Benefit (CCTB), a basic
benefit, and the National Child Benefit Supplement (NCBS) were instituted
 Currently up to 80% of families receive some portion of CCTB
 This is a federal benefit that Provinces can claw back from families on Social
Assistance

Canada/Quebec pension Plan

 Federal program introduced in 1966
 People contribute to this program based on earnings
 Provides benefits in the case of retirement, death, or long-term disability
 Employees and employers jointly finance the CPP and QPP

Old age security (OAS, GIS, SPA)

 Federal program
 Between 1952 and 1989, all elderly Canadians received a universal monthly benefit
called Old Age Security
 Prior to 1952, this benefit was targeted to very low-income elderly

Since 1989, the benefit was targeted to lower income groups.

Universal and Selective Programs

Universal Programs
 Available to all Canadians
 Direction - Canada was heading in after the Depression and WWII

Selective programs
 Targeted to those found to be in need or eligible
 Based on a means test (income test) or a needs test
 Direction - Canada has been moving in since early 1980s

Reforms to Social Welfare

Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) established in 1966:
 Federal contribution to social assistance and social services

The Canada assistance plan made it possible for municipalities to do what they were doing
in terms of social assistance and it was standard across country
Period of Growth…
Canada Assistance Plan (CAP) established in 1966:
 Federal contribution to social assistance and social services which lasted until mid-
90s

Established Program Financing (EPF) established in 1977

 Federal contribution to health care services and post-secondary education

The Decline…
 Canada Health and Social Transfer (CHST) established in 1996 (replaces CAP)
 Social Union Agreement established in 1999
 Canada Social Transfer (CST) established in 2004
 Canada Health Transfer (CHT) established in 2004

Globalization and Social Welfare

 Transnational corporations
 World trade organizations
 Less power to the people

Things have shifted…

This shift has chipped away from the Canada Assistance Plan to other plans that result in
less spending on social welfare

Our British Roots and Emergence of Social Work in Canada

Introduction to the History of Social work

Hick divides social work practice into three distinct phases
 Era of Moral reform (up until 1890 – preindustrial phase)
 Era of social reform (1891-1940 transition from commercial to industrial society)
 Era of Applied Social Science (1940 to present – post – war transformation)

In the early twentieth century, social work established itself as a vocation committed to
major social reform, social change and the eradication of poverty. Over time, it shifted from
a religious and charitable practice to a more systematic, professional one. Along with this,
social services shifted from a privately funded and volunteer activity to a publicly funded,
paid occupation. (Hick p.45)

As a profession how did social work claim its body of knowledge

Drothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement

 On May 1, 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression, The Catholic Worker
newspaper made its debut
 The Catholic Worker Movement is grounded in a belief for dignity of every human
person
  Today over 185 Catholic Worker communities remain committed to nonviolence,
voluntary poverty, prayer, and hospitality for the homeless, exiled, hungry, and
forsaken. Catholic Workers continue to protest injustice, war, racism, and violence of
all forms

JS Woodsworth and the Social Gospel Movement

 J. S. Woodsworth (1874-1942), a member of the Social Gospel Movement, worked in
social welfare while serving as a Methodist minister. He later gave up the ministry to
devote himself wholly to labour and welfare causes. Supported by the Independent
Labour party, he entered the Canadian House of Commons in 1921, remaining a
member until his death. When the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (now
the New Democratic Party) was founded (1932) he became chairman of its national
council and its parliamentary leader.

House of Friendship
 House of Friendship is a charitable human services agency founded in 1939 in
partnership with many local Christian churches
 The mission of House of Friendship is to serve low-income adults, youth, and
children in need of support, and to promote opportunities for personal growth,
wholesome relationships, and community development through the application of
holistic Christian principles

The Salvation Army

 The Salvation Army is an international Christian organization that began its work in
Canada in 1881 and has grown to become the largest nongovernmental direct
provider of social services in the country
 The Salvation Army give hope and support to vulnerable people today and every day
in 400 communities across Canada and 117 countries around the world
 The Salvation Army offers practical assistance for children and families, often
tending to the basic necessities of life, provides shelter for homeless people, and
rehabilitation for people who have lost control of their lives to an addiction

The Era of Moral Reform – To 1980

Henry Solly
 Believed that they should coordinate the efforts of the 640 overlapping charities to
save money
 Felt it was important to begin training the people who were involved in this work

Charity Organization Society (England 1869)

 Restore people to a life of self-sufficiency
 Restore the bonds of obligation and understanding between the classes
 Organize and control charity work, aiming for efficiency and communal relations

Mary Richmond, Social Diagnosis (1917)

 Leader in the Charity Organization movement
 Felt that a systematic approach to helping was needed
  “Friendly visitor” – one who went to homes of poor and disadvantaged trying to help
them

Assess
Plan
Treat

Toynbee Hall
 Ruskin had a notion that was contrary to the common belief that if you were poor,
you were solely to blame (if you are financially bankrupt you are also morally
bankrupt
 Suggested that some students should go out and interact with the poor (social
laboratory)
 Arnold Toynbee, Octavia Hill, and others who came to belief that it wasn’t entirely
their fault (structural approach)
 Became a model for western universities (e.g., University Settlement House in
Toronto)

Jane Addams
“What after all has maintained the human race on this old globe despite all the calamities of
nature and all the tragic failings of mankind, if not faith in new possibilities and courage to
advocate them”. – Jane Addams

Era of Social Reform – 1891 to 1940

 Scientific Philanthropy
 Emerged from the ideas of reform and social progress
 Being fact minded and rational
 New scientific approach to social work was to depart from the moral judgments of
deserving
 Social survey research emerged

Training of Social Workers

1914 – University of Toronto established
1918 – University of McGill
1927 – Canadian Association of Social workers
1928 – University of British Columbia
1947 – first professional degree. Masters Social Work (university of Toronto).

Social Casework
The British Influence: Influence was more around social reform, more macro
The American Influence: Influence was more around casework
The Male and Female Influence: Influence was more split between social reform and
casework
The Academy: 1915, Abraham Flexner argued that social work should not be in the academy
- Social work embraced Freud’s ideas which pushed it more toward casework
Psychology and Social Work
The Diagnostic Approach (Freudian)
 Abraham Flexner, speaking at a conference in 1915, critically challenged social
workers to enhance their fledgling profession by emulating the medical profession
 Played an increasingly important role in social work in the 1920s
 “Led to a change in social work, in a sense supporting a move from a more active to
a more passive role for the social worker”

The Impact of Mary Richmond

 The Social Diagnosis

The Functional Approach (Taft and Robison)

 A psychology of illness was rejected and in its place a psychology of positive human
potential and capacity for change gave impulse and direction to a new social work
method

The Diagnostic Approach (Freudian) The Functional Approach (Taft and

Robinson)
 Need to diagnose  Put more value on where patient
 Need to label the condition was at
 Need to, in a prescriptive fashion,  Language was important
apply the intervention  Looking at human potential and the
 Therapist as the expert; patient as capacity to change
the powerless

Social Gospel, Social Work, and Social Action

 Social Gospel Movement was the first organization in the country to advocate for
social reform
 Forerunner of the Social Service Council of Canada (1914)
 Replaced by the Canadian Association of Social Workers (1925)

 Social Gospel Movement had a particular influence on Canadian social work

 Began in the late 19th Century
 Major Protestant Movement churches establish the Moral and Social Reform League
 J.S. Woodsworth was a prominent member of the Social Gospel
 Connection to the “Ginger Group”, the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation
(CCF)

The era of Applied Social Science

Expansion of Social Services and Social Work
1956 – Unemployment Insurance
1966 – The Canada Assistance Plan
1963-1973 – Expansion of income security and social service programs
System of public health and hospital care
1967 – The Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work
Expansion of Social Work Programs
In Canada, there are currently a total of:
 46 community college certificate or diploma programs in social work
 34 university social work programs
o 31 Bachelor of Social Work
o 23 Masters of Social Work
o 8 Ph.D

Evolution of Practice

Social Welfare Economics

Keynesian Economics
John Maynard Keynes believed that the economy went in cycles and that it was the
government’s role to help out when the economy falters

An energy crisis in the 70s impacted all the modern economies that are dependent upon
fossil fuels
Inflation caused the government to raise the interest rates to slow spending

Monetarists
Believe governments should keep inflation in check

Module 3: Knowledge Base in Social Work

Learning Objectives for Module 3

 Discuss different social work theories
 Describe the difference between diagnostic and functional approaches to helping
 Apply the main ideas of social systems theory to analyze and social problem
 Define empowerment
 Consider the different theoretical approaches to helping and describe which
approach feels most natural to you and why

Social Work Theories

 Emphasizes certain theories
 Stresses structural theory
  Touches upon Freud, Rational-Emotive Behaviour and Cognitive Theories
 1st part of Chapter: Heavily based on Radical, Critical, Structural and Anti-
Oppressive theories
 Some have viewed Anti-Oppressive, Feminist, Structural and Critical Theories as
Radical Theories
 These theories talk about problems in society and not within the individual

What Kind of lenses you have on?

Gendered Perspective
Race Perspective
Class Perspective

Different Approaches: Choosing What Works for You

 Salvador Minuchin
 Structuralist
 Provocative approach – in family therapy (more demonstrative and bolder)

Other Approaches
 Heart-centered
 Jungian
 Aboriginal Ideas

Using Knowledge to Shape Work with Clients

A Social Work Theory is an organized way of thinking about the world that guides the way
we carry out social work practice

1. Psychoanalytic – Takes individual back to childhood

2. Behavioural – Looks at antecedent behaviours
3. Feminist – looks at world in terms of gender.

A Social Work Theory is an organized way of thinking about the world that guides the way
we carry out social work practice
 Traditionally social workers have been influenced by the medical model
 Modern social work theory has shifted towards assessment and intervention
DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS (DSM)
Manual with all psychological disorders
Important to use a label when following the medical model
- If you can name it, you can treat it.
Part of knowledge base required to function well as a medical social worker

Specific Theories of Social Work

In social work, theories are rooted in two knowledge bases:
Foundational Theories
Organized ideas about the world that provide the basis for practice theories

Practice Theories
Build on foundation knowledge, making it specific and relevant to the way we practice social
work

Social work practice theories can be classified into two groups

Individual-Level:
Varied and complex
Emphasize the individual and their interactions
Focus is on what people do

Structural-level:
Emphasize social structures, processes and systems
Focus is on social structures and policies that influence what people do

Modern Theoretical Approaches to Social Work

Functional Theory
Jessie Taft: Introduced in the 1930s by Jessie Taft and Virginia Robinson
Otto Rank: Based on work by Otto Rank
- Problems come from negative experience
- Problems can be overcome using personal power to effect change
- Emphasized the client’s role in directing change

Social Systems Theory

 Social work professors Carel Germain and Alex Gitterman used ideas from biology
and ecology to develop “life-model”
 Places individual within a series of interdependent systems, like an ecosystem
 Change happening over a long period of time and change that happens quickly
Stimulus  input  Throughput  Output  Response

Social Systems Theory

 Promotion: moving to a new city
o Problems with difficult child
 Unplanned pregnancy
o Doctor mediates her
  No support system
o Throws child on the floor

The Structural Approach

 Canadian development
 Based on the work of Maurice Moreau
 Focuses on the impact of wider social structures on personal problems
 Involves a critical analysis of socio-economic structures, which oppress and exploit
people
 Social worker must be skilled in casework, family counselling, group work, and
community organizing

Critical Social Work

 Focuses on the impact of social structure on personal problems
 Must contribute to a transformation of everyday lives
 It critiques or unravels the societal relations underpinning our personal problems
 Introduced the notion of empowerment

Feminist social work practice

 Looking through a feminist/gendered perspective
 Origins in the women’s liberation movement of the 1960s
 Women can only get so far until they reach the glass ceiling

Anti-oppressive practice
 Bob Mullaly defines oppression as “the domination of subordinate groups in society
by a powerful group.”
 Oppressive relationships exist at structural and individual levels
 Acknowledges the existence of oppression and the complex nature of our identities
 Not a single theory, but draws on many traditions

Both macro- and micro-level relations generate oppression

 Challenge society and institutions that serve to oppress people – everyday experience
is shaped by multiple oppressions
 Social work is not a neutral, technical profession, but an active political process
 Social work needs to build allies and work with social causes

The Medical Model

An approach that mirrored a medical approach to problems
 Involved in-depth study of a person’s situation in order to improve his or her
condition
 Approach therapeutic interventions similar to a doctor with diagnosis and treatment
 Focus is on the individual rather than on the social situation

Psychologically Based Theories

Psychodynamic perspectives
Sigmund Freud: Introduced by Freud in 1920’s
Looks at the earlier stages of development
Developmental Lesion: if we do not go through these stages successfully, we will have
problems that show up later in life.
 The id, the ego, and the superego work to fulfill these needs, but only in ways that
are acceptable to society
 This creates constant conflict between human desire and the limits set by society –
leads to anxiety and irrational behaviour
 Person’s troubles are understood as result of internal pathology (preconscious and
unconscious states)

Existentialist Approach
Based on the 19th century philosophy of existentialism or the search for the meaning of life.
- Freeing the individuals
- Human beings create meaning and purpose
- People are intentional and deliberate in their choices to act
- People are capable of controlling and changing their lives.

Gestalt therapy is an example of an existentialist approach

Developed by Fritz Perls
- We are capable of doing great things
- We develop rationalizations for doing nothing

Existentialist Approach
 Human beings are defined by their relationships to others
 Relationships influence the way we understand and move through the world
 Support client to develop self-awareness and assume personal responsibility in order
to reach self-actualization

Client centered or person-centered Perspectives

Based on the idea that clients are experts of their own problems
- Introduced by Carl Rogers in the 1950’s

 We have the power to self-correct, we simply lack awareness

 Emphasis on the reflection of feelings, paraphrasing and non-confrontational methods
 All human beings are good, worthwhile, and guided by a search for meaning and
purpose in life
 Provide unconditional positive regard for client
 Rogers was greatly influenced by humanism

Rational Emotive Psychotherapy

o Introduced by psychologist Albert Elis in mid 1950’s
- Earlist form of a cognitive behaviour approach
- Blended ideas from cognition and behaviourism
- Client is active in the process of identifying problems and working on ways of
changing.
- Help a client to see that negative emotions experienced are due to flawed
perceptions of reality
Cognitive Behaviour Therapy
Shorter term approach
Behaviours are learned and shaped by our interpretations of the world
Therapists work with clients to understand the thought patterns that bring about certain
behaviours
Focus is on problem-solving and promoting more accurate ways of understanding the world

Task Centered Model

- Developed in the 1980s
- Laura Epstein
o Critical of the psychoanalytic approach
o No solid research showing its value

Reid and Epstein

- A short-term therapy with a measurable outcome
- Client states problems in their own words.
- Social workers assess and clarify the target problem and desired outcome, then
create a list of tasks that must be completed to resolve the problem.

Towards a Personal Approach

What works for you?
1. Integrative approach
2. Ectectic approach
3. Dialectional approach

Integrative approach
- Select concepts and methods from various sources and theories
- Build a unified system that fits you and is appropriate for the setting in which you
work.
- Draw theories together that are compatible

Ectic Approach
 Involves selecting concepts and methods
 Does not unify or integrate the pieces
 Selects various concepts and methods as deemed appropriate

Dialectional Approach
 Involves a synthesis or combination of opposing assertions within theories
 Takes a balanced or middle of the road approach
 Incorporates concepts from differing approaches
  Enables the drawing together of theories that may contain opposing assertions
 Oppositions are held in awareness and balance

Module 4: Value Base of Social Work

The Growth of the Profession

 Regulated by ten provincial associations and one territorial association
 Each association is mandated by provincial legislation
 Individual social workers become registered through membership to regulatory body
 Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW) brings all associations together
 Education is monitored by the Canadian Association for Social Work Education
(CASWE)

The Canadian Association of Social workers

 Founded in 1926
 September 1, 1926, the constitution for the Canadian Association of Social Workers
was approved
 Originally, there were 197 initial members
 Today, it is a federated organization with 16,000 members across the country

The Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE)

 Founded in 1967
 A national association of university faculties, schools, and departments offering
professional education in social work
 Purpose is to advance the standards, effectiveness, and relevance of social work
education and scholarship
 Responsible for reviewing and approving social work education programs

International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW)

 Founded in Paris in 1928
 Represents over half a million social workers in 55 different countries
 Promotes social work as a profession • Links social workers from around the world
 Promotes the participation of social workers in social policy and planning

International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW)

 Worldwide network of social work educational institutions
 Adheres to all UN Declarations and Conventions on human rights
 Recognizes that respect for the inalienable rights of the individual is the foundation of
freedom, justice, and peace

Regulating the Social work profession

 Each Canadian province or territory has extensive legislation governing the practice
of social work
 Increasing legislative control over the last 30 years
 Each Act governs who can call themselves a social worker, the qualifications
required, and penalties for unethical behavior
Roles of the Social and Social Service Worker
 Enabler
 Broker
 Advocate
 Initiator
 Mediator
 Negotiator
 Activist
 Educator
 Coordinator
 Researcher
 Group Facilitator
 Public Speaker

Social Work, Psychology and Psychiatry

Social Work: emphasizes individual within context of broader social environment
Psychology: Focuses on individual behaviour and internal thoughts and feelings
Psychiatry: Focuses on individually based mental illness, generally treated with prescription
medications or biologically treatments.

CASW’s Code of Ethics

The code of ethics has six core values:
1. Respect for Inherent Dignity and Worth of Persons
2. Pursuit of Social Justice
3. Service to Humanity
4. Integrity of Professional Practice
5. Confidentiality in Professional Practice
6. Competence in Professional Practice

Respect for Inherent Dignity and worth of Persons

Do you believe that people can change?
Do you believe that people are worthy?
Do you believe that people have a sense of dignity?
Do you bring that belief to the helping profession?
Or do you believe that only certain people are worthy?
That only certain people will be treated with dignity?

Pursuit of Social Justice

How far do you go in addressing matters of injustice?
Pursuit of social justice speaks to advocacy

Guidelines for Ethical Practice

 Normative Standards the expected standard should be
 Aspirational ethics identify the principles that professionals should attempt to reach
 Prescriptive ethics refer to behaviours to which professionals are held accountable to
uphold
The Ambiguity of Social work
 Refers to the fact that social workers balance urgent and practical intervention
measures with difficult and “political” questions
 Situations in which policy and regulations of the agency conflict with the best
interests of the client
 Balancing one’s beliefs, professional standards, and agency rules can be difficult

Here’s a bit of a guideline

 If you are feeling that the situation is a little strange, talk to someone, get some advice
 Always be aware of the balance between subjectivity and objectivity

What about touch?

Ethical Decision Making

 What are my feelings and intuition telling me to do?
 How do my values inform my decision? Will they hinder or help?
 How will other people be affected by my decision?
 How would I feel if this decision were made public?
 What decision would best define who I am as a person?

Individualization
 Individualization is treating everyone as an individual
 One of the tendencies is to categorize people – to base your assessment and response
on what you think their story is, rather than on actually ‘hearing’ their story

Self-Awareness
 Prejudices
 Tendency to categorize people
 Negative feelings
 Need to impose your own values

Knowledge and Skills

 Knowledge will help you to resist this temptation to categorize people
 If you have good diagnostic and listening skills, you will be able to hear them
through, make a proper assessment, and move forward in a direction that works for
them
 Understanding of human behavior
 Ability to listen and observe without preconceived ideas, early interpretation, or
generalizing
 Moving at the client’s own pace

Systems Theory
Knowledge and Skills
 Understanding of human behaviour
 Ability to listen and observe without preconceived ideas, early interpretation, or
generalizing
 Moving at the client’s own pace
 Flexible response to individual needs

Client Self-determination
Self-awareness
Dealing with self in terms of need:
 to control
 to manipulate
 to over protect
 to totally accept client’s right to self determination

Knowledge and Skills

 Clarification of feelings and problem areas
 Suggesting alternatives – pros and cons
 Providing information on community services
 Motivating, stimulating – building on client’s strengths
 Tuning into the barriers to self-determination

Acceptance
Self-Awareness
Tuning into where:
biases
strong negative feelings, and lack of self-acceptance exist

Knowledge and Skills

Practicing belief in human potential for change
Ability to express an attitude of caring, warmth, and respect for human dignity
Ability to separate acceptance of the human being and the acceptance of behaviour

Controlled Emotional Involvement

Self-Awareness
- Achieving a balance between objectivity and subjectivity

That’s why that boundary is important

Self-awareness
 - Transference

Controlled Emotional Involvement

 Achieving a balance between objectivity and subjectivity
 Awareness of any tendency to project one’s own feelings into the situation

Knowledge and Skills

 Sharpen sensitivity to feelings at all levels of expression
 Understanding what feelings mean to a specific client
 Ability to make appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses to expression of feelings
 Healthy balance of the intellectual and the emotional

Purposeful Expression of Feelings

Self-Awareness
 Developing attitudes of warmth, caring, openness, and genuineness
 Being aware of personal fears or lack of acceptance around negative and/or positive
feelings of expression

Knowledge and Skills

 Ability to recognize feelings
 Respond with sensitivity and understanding
 Objectivity to assess the extent to which feelings should be encouraged
 Knowing when and how to confront feelings when appropriate

Non-judgmental Attitude
Self-Awareness: dealing with self (acceptance)
Knowledge and Skills: Avoid the assigning of guilt or innocence, bad, or good to the person.
Constructively evaluate behaviour

Confidentiality
What does Confidentiality mean?
Talk about case studies to teach, without providing information.

Relative Confidentiality
Talk to other agents (therapists) with the clients permission, and then ask them when to break
it.

Knowledge and Skills

Discuss with the client the agency’s policies and the degree of confidentiality
Advise clients if confidentiality must be broken
Gain client’s permission prior to sharing info
Be selective, yet honest, in case recording conversation
Respect for human dignity, integrity, and rights to privacy

There are other situations where you might want to release information.
Lawyers have the absolute confidentiality.