Social Work Practice in Substance Misuse and Domestic Violence

The assignment consists of two parts, one focusing on social work practice in substance misuse and the other on domestic violence. In the first part, it discusses legalizing illicit drugs, non-medical use of prescription medications, and how social workers can help people with mental health issues due to substance abuse. The second part talks about ethics in social work, including confidentiality, informed decision-making, and respecting clients' rights to self-determination.

Running Head: Social Work 1
Social Work
Name
Institution

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TASK 1
Domain can be defined as a particular field of thought or interest that something or
someone has control over it and can also cause a certain influence .On the other hand, Fields of
practice refers to the small sectors that are divided from the main area of concern. The main
domain for a domestic violence counsellor in a local NGO is family service. Mostly deals with
various members of a family being violated, either individually or as a couple. Domestic
violence refers to aggressive behavior in a home setting, whereby abuse by one person against
the spouse is involved. It is also referred to as family violence. Domestic violence also involves
fields of practice like violation of children rights, parents and the elderly people. The abuse or
violence can be verbal-like quarrels and insults and sexual abuse-like rape and violent physical
abuse such as choking, beating and female genital mutilation.
Generally, the target population for family violence would include; young girls, women
of the middle age and also elder women. This is because domestic violence victims are mostly
females, and they tend to experience more severe forms of violence. This doesn’t mean that men
are not victim .They are, but in rare cases (Ramsay, Rutterford, Gregory, Dunne, Eldridge,
Sharp, & Feder, 2012). Many girls who experience this abuse, they find it hard to cope with
future life of marriage .Domestic violence counselors have to intervene by supporting the victims
and help them develop self-esteem and confidence. They do so by trying to get them out of that
fear .They also try to end the cycle of violence because many people who experience abuse in
childhood become enablers, involving themselves in a series of relationships that escalate into
abuse and violence. This affects their normal functioning of their daily activities, and well
functioning of their bodies. As a domestic violence counsellor in a local NGO, there are some
vital elements that should be observed in order to give quality service. Conducting work within

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an ethical framework is a critical aspect of professional practice and the possession of abstract
specialized knowledge. Knowledge can be defined as the clear and certain understanding or
awareness of something as opposed to opinion. There are various practice approaches which can
be used by a human service worker depending with the field of practice (Healey, Connolly &
Humphreys, 2018). For instance, someone working as a domestic violence counselor in a local
NGO would prefer to use theoretical approach rather than model or any other .This is because
theory is a way of making sense used to explain the relationship between two or more
phenomenon. Client –centered approach is appropriate in this situation of counseling people who
have undergone family violence (Brewer, Roy & Smith, 2010).).Theory enables one to better
explain what they already know first and relate it with the matter at hand. One should not rely on
only one theory to inform his practice and instead should be well conversant with a variety (.
Rao, Horton & Raguram, 2012).).This is because clients’ problems are different and need to be
dealt differently to satisfaction.

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References
1. Healey, L., Connolly, M., & Humphreys, C. (2018). A collaborative practice framework for
child protection and specialist domestic and family violence services: Bridging the
research and practice divide. Australian Social Work, 1-10.
2. Ramsay, J., Rutterford, C., Gregory, A., Dunne, D., Eldridge, S., Sharp, D., &Feder, G.
(2012). Domestic violence: knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice of selected UK
primary healthcare clinicians.
3. Brewer, G., Roy, M., & Smith, Y. (2010). Domestic violence: the psychosocial impact and
perceived health problems. Journal of aggression, conflict and peace research, 2(2), 4-
15.
4. Rao, D., Horton, R., & Raguram, R. (2012). Gender inequality and structural violence among
depressed women in South India. Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 47(12)

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TASK 2
Substance misuse has being a field of concern to many people. This is because most
people have started to misuse substances without caring their age, gender and even the side
effects accrued by the drug abused. Children, parents and even elderly people are victims. The
commonly abused drugs include alcohol, tobacco and marijuana amongst others. People have
decided to start rehabilitation centres to attend to drug user. Free counselling is offered to the
willing clients to help them understand themselves and make decision for a better change.
Treatment is also offered in this facility.
Some of the current social issues concerning substance misuse may include, legalizing of
illicit drugs (Racine, &Forlini, 2010). Some people depend on selling substances like marijuana
so that they can improve their living standards, so if this drug is completely illegal they would
have a challenge for its their cash crop. Nonmatter how the government prohibits its
consumption, they illegally sell. As a social worker in the field of substance misuse I oppose the
idea of the majority that marijuana causes no harm to its users. All illicit drugs are harmful to the
users’ health and should be completely prohibited. From the clients that we deal with in the
rehabilitation program, we have noted that marijuana and stimulant users have higher occurrence
of psychiatric illness compared to non-users. (Lankenau, Teti, Silva, Bloom, Harocopos, &
Treese, 2012). Drug addiction is brain chronic disorder. Addicted people are in the state of
inability to abstain or do without the drug. The social workers have the know-how of dealing
with addicts and helps them change their behavior and also encourage them in counselling.
Secondly, it has come to great concern that most of the people who were born normal but now
are mentally sick, it’s as a result of substance misuse. Some of the medical test that have been
done to them as a way of research has proven it right. The social workers really have a

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challenging task to deal with mentally ill clients. Rehabilitation centres are trying to avail the
required medicines for them hence making work easier for the social workers.
Ethics refers to code of contact or how to behave. Social workers have a code of conduct
that they should adhere to while dealing with alcohol and other drug users (Schroeder, & Ford,
2012). First, confidentiality-As a social worker, one should be able to keep secret. When the
clients are assured that their details will not be disclosed to anyone, they voluntarily come for
counselling and rehabilitation and vice versa. Secondly, the social worker should also be
informed on how to deal with different clients. Some have mild problems so easy to handle while
others have serious disorders and need special attendance with a lot of care. Counselling and
treatment is offered to clients depending with their situation. Proper administering leads to a
positive change (Zgierska, Miller, & Rabago, 2012). Lastly, social workers should respect and
promote the right of the clients to self-determination. They should assist them to identify and
clarify their goals for they may know better than the client. Social workers may only discourage
client’s self-determination if the client’s potential action pose harm to them or others.

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References
1. Racine, E., &Forlini, C. (2010). Cognitive enhancement, lifestyle choice or misuse of
prescription drugs?.Neuroethics, 3(1), 1-4.
2. Lankenau, S. E., Teti, M., Silva, K., Bloom, J. J., Harocopos, A., & Treese, M. (2012).
Initiation into prescription opioid misuse amongst young injection drug users.
International Journal of Drug Policy, 23(1), 37-44.
3. Schroeder, R. D., & Ford, J. A. (2012). Prescription drug misuse: A test of three competing
criminological theories. Journal of Drug Issues, 42(1), 4-27.
4. Zgierska, A., Miller, M., & Rabago, D. (2012). Patient satisfaction, prescription drug abuse,
and potential unintended consequences.