1,722,245 research outputs found
Finding alternative narratives using strength-based approaches in addressing mental health concerns of families and children in clinical practice
No full textWorking in a field where parents/carers often present 'broken children' or are broken and expect the clinician to be able to miraculously 'fix' them can be challenging. Finding ways of assisting them to put the pieces back together often requires CBT (cognitive behaviour therapy) and other traditional styles of intervention. These are not always the most effective methods. When working with children, young people and families in a tertiary mental health setting it is often the problem saturated perspective that is the focus that consumes clinical practice. The person is not the problem; the problem is the problem and we are all part of the solution (White 2001). McMillan, Morris, and Sherraden (2004) and Cowger (1994) have shown that utilizing a strength based approach allows people to experience a sense of control to focus on all the aspects of their life rather than be defined as the negative presenting issue. Aspects such as survival skills, abilities, knowledge, resources and desires are discussed as a mechanism to assist this process (Saleebey 1996). This allows the clinician to both view and explore with the person their strengths instead of the problem. By doing this a more holistic productive therapeutic alliance between clinician and consumer/s occurs.
The ability to assist families in changing perspective and to focus on their strengths that they already possess to build resilience and sustainability provides them with the opportunity of ownership and control over the situation. This chapter will discuss the importance of using strengths-based model and how it has been implemented in clinical practice
Strengths-based practice towards human wellbeing: future directions
No full text[Extract] The authors of this particular anthology of writings are all concerned scholars in the field of mental health and have been searching for meaningful ways to improve the wellbeing of the human kind. Our chosen paths, journeys and distances that we took have been different, but the destination seems to be the same; of wanting to gaze toward a future that would not have to be through a crystal ball. If we searched through each chapter the emerging keywords that we all seem to have grappled with are Strengths-based practice, coping and resilience, and hope and wellbeing social work. Therefore we ask the following questions and attempt to answer these in this last chapter.
Is there a methodology that allows us to talk about how things could be? When no one previously contemplated about these things? How can our social work practice be strengthened by the difficult situations that we encounter, 'just as a bonfire in a strong wind not blown out, but blazes even brighter?' (Pulla, Chenoweth, Francis, Bakaj, 2012, pvii)
Efficacy of strengths-based practice in engaging with children with behavioural problems: a case study from India
No full textIn their work with children with behavioural problems, a vast majority of professionals, including social workers, adopt a problem or deficit focused approach rather than working with a strengths perspective. In recent years, we have been witnessing the benefits of the strength based approach in different areas, particularly in the field of mental health. Generally, children seem to have a greater potential for resilience and recovery provided they receive timely and appropriate interventions. The field of mental health and social services has a long history of focusing on children's deficits, problem behaviours, and pathologies. Within the last decade researchers and practitioners within the fields of education, mental health, psychology, social work, and child welfare have begun to question the deficit-based approach and move toward a more holistic model of development (Trout, Ryan, La Vigne, & Epstein, 2003). Rather than focusing on individual and family weaknesses or deficits, strength based practitioners collaborate with families and children to discover individual and family functioning and strengths (Laursen, 2000). At the foundation of the strength based approach is the belief that children and families have unique talents, skills, and life events, in addition to specific unmet needs (Olson, Whitebeck, & Robinson, 1991 as cited in Epstein, 1999). This paper reports the insights derived from social work interventions made by one of the authors in working with children with behaviour problems. Through qualitative analysis of the process and outcome of various psycho-social interventions, the authors argue the relative advantages of the strength based approach over the conventional problem or deficit focused models of interventions in working with children displaying problem behaviours
Conclusion: the future of criminal justice social work: reflections
No full text[Extract] Sadly, this is the last chapter of the book-a text that we hope you have found to be both informative and inspiring, in equal measure. Each of the chapter contributors has tried their best to provide you with a clear picture of how important criminologically-trained social workers are to the effective and affective running of almost every facet of the criminal justice system. While a range of new ideas and recommendations have been incorporated into this book based on the available literature, it should be noted that criminal justice social work is still in a state of relative flux. While that may be disconcerting for some, this is also an opportunity for many of you to make a meaningful difference in the lives of so many, whether offenders, victims or their respective families. This text is intended for such matters to be kept at the forefront of criminological as well as social work discourses where both disciplines can come together (as has the first author being a social worker and the second author as a criminologist) to not only engage but also collaborate for the betterment of some of the most marginalised of communities within India
A strengths approach to mental health
No full text[Extract] This chapter introduces 'a strengths approach to mental health social work' that in our belief is very useful in the field of mental health. In the first chapter (Global Mental Health) we indicated that mental illness is one of the most common health conditions worldwide. It can be one of the hardest to come to terms with both for those who are ill and for those who are close to the ones suffering. In many parts of the world, people suffer twice over—from the illness itself, and also because they are shunned by their families, often exiled from their communities and isolated by society (WHO 2011). Interpretations of 'mental health' or 'mental illness' are certainly Western-framed from Western medicine-but, of course, distress and disturbed behaviour are recognised amongst many cultures. Similarly, their causes and meaning are understood in many different ways. When we concluded the chapter on global mental health, we mentioned that there was a significant gap between what is needed for mental health care and what is available in many societies, including the affluent ones in the West. This gap is unlikely to be reduced in the short run. But taking mental health into primary health care and deploying a strengths framework from social work practice into the recovery-oriented practice in mental health would clearly assist in augmenting non-financial and social capital resources in a better manner
Positive psychology and refugee mental health: implications for social work practice
No full text[Extract] Refugee mental health is an issue that has been debated globally. In this chapter, positive psychology and strengths-based approaches are employed to discuss the mental health of refugees. Based on the evidences from the literature, the authors highlight some of the implications for social work practice. The chapter also provides a brief overview of refugee mental health issues and gives some suggestions and tips to enhance the development of social work practice and training.
According to the United Nations' 1951 Convention, refugees are persons who have crossed an international boundary because they are unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of their former country due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinions, race, religion, nationality or membership of a particular social group (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] 2010). Such persecution may mean execution, torture, imprisonment without trial, mistreatment and/or other serious denials of rights. In other words, 'refugee' is an internationally accepted legal term to describe someone needing protection from another country because they are being targeted in their own country by authorities or other groups involved in an organised violent campaign. It cannot be applied to people seeking to escape random violations of their rights, escaping violence in a civil conflict, fleeing natural disasters or escaping starvation (New South Wales Refugee Health Service 2004)
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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