CLIENTELE AND

AUDIENCE IN
SOCIAL WORK
Presentation
4 PIC’S ONE
WORD
SOCIAL WORK
CLIENT
COMMUNITY
CHARACTERISTIC AND NEEDS OF
VARIOUS TYPES OF CLIENTELE
WORKING WITH
WORKING WITH GROUPS AND
INDIVIDUAL ORGANIZATION

WORKING WITH
COMMUNITIES
WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS
• In casework, the individual is the principal client and efforts of
helping are focused on her/him. De Guzman (1992) explain that the
person's inability to manage stress which may have been a result
of a distressful situation or problem caused her/him or those
concerned with her/him to seek professional help.

• The worker must understand that the person is a "biopsychosocial

being" wherein s/he is made up of at least three parts of
subsystem-the physical, the psychological, and the social.
Each person makes her/his own adaptation to demands of the
various roles to perform in her/his situation depending on her /his
capabilities and motivation to do so.

Sample of mode of adaptation include fight, flight, and pairing.

• Fight-Means physical or verbal projection of angry feelings on

others especially when encountering difficult circumstances,
frustration, disappointment, or even anxiety.
• Flight-This is
manifested when
person physically
moves away from the
problem like resorting
to drugs, alcohol or
substances that will
make one forget the
current stressful
situation.
• Pairing-it entails the entry
into a relationship with
another person who is
perceived to be stronger,
stable, or who has the
capacity to provide help
over her/his problem .
Below are some of the clients who need the social worker
or the agency's help through casework.

• Children who are either abandoned, neglected,

orphaned, abused, or exploited;
• Children in conflict with the law, street children,
children living with or affected by HIV;
• Out of School youth;
• Socially disadvantaged women;
• Solo parents.
The typology of clients may include the voluntary
clients, those involuntary client, and who assisted by
another person or agency.

• Voluntary client are those

persons who opted to
voluntary seek the
assistance of the worker or
service of agency due to a
problem or difficulty which
s/he think s/she cannot do
anything by her/himself.
• Involuntary client are
those certain types of
individuals in need who
may not even consider
asking for help because
they think that they are
doing fine and will survive
somehow or unaware of
the agencies that can
provide with them some
assistance.
• Other clients are being
assisted by another
person (other family
member, relative, friend or
neighbor),
group/organizations or
community
leaders/workers who are
concerned about the
client's situation. they
also called referred
clients.
De Guzman (1992) also introduced factors (or relationship
components/reactions as some authors would refer)that may
affect or influence the helping relationship between the client and
the worker.

These relationship components or factors are transference,

counter-transference , and reality.
• Transference-are the
client's reactions and
displacement on
experienced earlier in
life in relationship with
the members of
her/his family such as
mother, father or
significant other.
• Counter-transference - are worker's relationship
reactions that s/he may project on the client and
usually it is worker who transfers previously
experienced feelings on the client
• Reality- is the
realistic and
projective
perception of
existing condition
or situation. It is
the state of what
is actual, what is,
and what is true.
In casework process, there are certain ethical
conditions that govern the client-worker relationship
that were put together by biestek (1957) as cite in De
Guzman (1992).

• Acceptance- The worker's recognition of the

individual's worth as human being imbued with
inherent worth and dignity.
• Nonjudgmental attitude- This means without
labeling, no stereotyping and noncondemnatory
act that refrains from assigning blame, guilt or
failure to the client.
• Individualization- This characterize that
every individual is unique and possesses
certain traits or attributes specific only to
her/himself.

• Purposeful expression of feelings - refers to

the worker's allowing and facilitating the
client's purposeful expression of feelings.

• Controlled emotional involvement- Refers to

the worker's way of responding to the client's
purposeful expression of feelings.
• Confidentiality- refers to the preservation of
secret information concerning the client
which is disclosed in the professional
relationship.

• Self-determination- It is derivative of the

belief in the inherent worth and dignity of a
person -that s/he ie endowed with reason and
a free will and is capable of making her/his
own choices
WORKING WITH GROUPS
AND ORGANIZATION
• Social group work as a process and method is
rooted on sociological concept that a person is a
social being who has the indiclination and need a
association with other human being.

• As a target for change, members in group are

clients of an agency who have common problem,
needs, and concerns that match the agency's or
worker's group service orientation.
• As a medium for change, the group is used to
facilitate the growth and development needs of
some members of the group as the need for
self-expression, communication, relationship,
developing self confidence and modifying
negative attitudes, behavior, and value.

• As an agent of change, the group is used to

effect the desired change needed outside the
group.
The purpose of social group work include the following:

✓ To enhance the social adjustment of the individual and developing the

social consciousness;

✓ To provide opportunities for planned group experiences that are needed

by all people;

✓ To provide experience that relaxing and that give individuals a chance to

create, to share and express themselves; and

✓ To help individuals in groups to take responsibility for their own

behavior, relate with others and how to become participating members of
society.
Treker (1965) also presented the statement of principles
as a result of hus long year of study and experience in
teaching social group work. These are the following:

• The principle of planned group formation - This

principle requires the group in social group work to
possess conscious design and plan and must contain
the potential for social growth of its member.

• The principle of specific objective - This principle

recognizes that specific objective for individual and
group development must be consciously formulated
by social group worker in order to effectively meet
the group 's needs and concerns.
• The principle purposeful worker group relation- This
principle is premised on the assumption that there has
been established acceptance between the group
members and the worker.
• The principle of continuous individualization-The
principle entails consciously understand and accept
the subgroup and individuals within the group develop
and change in varying levels and must therefore know
how to use the group work process in meeting the
varying of needs of the members.

• The principle of guided group interaction - The

principle recognizes that guided group interaction is
considered as the heart of social group work process
and this refers to the harnessing, direction and
conscious utilization of the natural process of social
interaction in group.
• The principle of democratic self determination-This
principle is anchored of the belief that group have
right to make choices and that they are endowed with
a capacity to make decisions.
• The principle of flexible functional organization-This
principle underscore the need to have flexibility in
formal organizations so that it can be adaptive to any
change that may arise.
• The principle of progressive program experiences-This
principle emphasizes the need for the group to engage
in program experiences at the level of members
interest, need, experiences, and capacity.
Miclat (1995) shared different typologies of groups have
their own specific goals and objectives, to wit:

• Growth group - The dominant goal is the personal growth

of the participants in group at all levels in their emotional,
interpersonal, intellectual, and spiritual phase of their life.
The specific objectives of the group are: to make people
better; to develop group trust and in-depth relationship;
to encourage constructive changes in both attitudes and
feelings on the one hand and behavior and relationships
on the other; and to awaken the innate drive in every
individual in the group to develop her/his potentials.
• Treatment group - The goal is to help solve the individual's problems
in social adjustment, uncover deep-seated conflicts, hostilities and
depression, modify/sublimate antisocial/aberrant
behaviors/attitudes, and positivize negative social and cultural
values. The specific objectives of the treatment vary in order to
appropriately respond to common problems/needs of the different
types of groups that may include the following: unwed mothers who
are minors, street children, prostituted women, drug dependents,
persons with disabilities, solo parents, people living or affected with
HIV, alcoholics, children in conflict with the law, psychiatric ward
patients, etc.
• Social group - the goal is to provide opportunities for social
relationships to the lonely, the friendless, and those who have
problems in relating with other persons. This group aims to: (a) form
a friendly and congenial atmosphere where the members are able
to comfortably relate in a deeper level with at least a member of
the group; (b) provide program activities that would give greater
interaction among the members through smaller group discussions,
exercises, games, picnics and field trips; and (c) organize the group
for club activities with social orientation to become agent of
change in their community.
• Interest group - the goal is to primarily answer the unmet
interests/ needs of the group members through
appropriate program of activities and services to the
agency as well as the community. The specific objective of
the group is the provision for appropriate outlets that
would meet the varied unmet interests of the members
through creative and innovative activities, programs, and
services.
• Play/Recreation group - The goal is to provide
pleasurable activities through games, dances,
songs/music, dramatics, and other leisure time activities
as medium for meeting the individual's leisure and
recreational needs that would also redound to their
development.
 WORKING WITH
COMMUNITIES
• The two concepts of a community were developed by Roland
Warren. As a social system, the community may be either
geographic or functional in nature.

• A geographic community refers to the people in a specific

geographic area like village, barangay, sitio, district, municipality,
city, province, region, nation, or the world.
• A functional community, on the other hand, is composed of the
people who hold common values, share some common functions or
express some common interest such as education, health, livelihood,
labor, welfare or recreation.
• The nature of community organization can be traced in the works of Ross
(1955), Dunham (1970) and Cox et al. (1979). For instance, Ross (1955) would
have described it as a process by which a community identifies its needs or
objectives, ranks them, finds the internal or external resources to deal with
them, takes actions, and extends and develops cooperative and collaborative
attitudes, and practices in the community.

• The philosophy of community organization is the acceptance of the right of the

community to decide what it wants rather than having the organizer's views
imposed upon it, belief on the capacity of the people to find richer and more
satisfying ways of living if they are helped to use the resources within themselves
and their environment which are and could be made available for them.
 The following are the focus of community
organization:
• Removal of blocks to growth
• The release of potentialities in the individual, group and communities
as a whole
• The development of the capacity of indigenous leaders to lead, to
manage, and function in their assigned social roles in the community
• Developing the ability of different sectors in the community to
function as an integrated whole v. Strengthening people's capacity
for problem-solving, decision making, and cooperation.
• The full use of inner/indigenous resources before tapping external
resources
The purposes of community organization include the
following:

i. To solve certain problems and meet needs

ii. To achieve selected social goals

iii. To strengthen the people's capacity in dealing with their

problems, needs, and aspirations.
THANK YOU