Working with Individuals and Families

Working with Individuals and Families 1
WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES
Student’s Name
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Working with Individuals and Families 2
WORKING WITH INDIVIDUALS AND FAMILIES
CASE STUDY ONE: Case notes
I met with Chikal to face who was seeking psychological help. During the interview,
Chikal’s demeanor was open and well engaged throughout the session, revealing vital details of
her personal life. We met alone, and she kept good eye contact and also answered questions
comprehensively.
Chikal explicitly explained the purpose of her visit and the underlying challenges that she
was undergoing. The primary challenge that she indicated was high level of stress and depression
due to insufficient finance to support herself and her two-year-old son. She indicated that she is
finding a challenge in meeting her routine expenses such as house rents, monthly bills, and study
loans. She then inquired if possible to get someone to help her out in meeting financial
obligations so that she can comfortably provide for her son. Chikal works a part-time job, which
is not sufficient to meet all the financial needs. Chikal recorded to be highly stressed primarily
due to her inability to pay her monthly bills with no family to help, and she does she obtain any
help from the government.
Based on Chikal’s description of the situation and the need to seek external help indicates
her desperation. I, therefore, promised Chikal external help through various sources both
financially to meet her bills and emotionally by talking to a psychologist. Chikal’s account
shows evidence of emotional and psychological stress that faces lower and middle income
individuals.

Working with Individuals and Families 3
CASE STUDY TWO: ‘at risk’ Case Study
Working with Individuals and Families
Cultural competence and cross-cultural awareness are a continuing process. In social
work, the professionals should have good understanding of the circumstances and the associated
social issues from the perspective of their clients. Allen (2010) defines cultural competence as a
set of skills, values, and principles that help social workers to take cognizance, respect and
collaborate towards realizing optimal interactions between people of different cultural and ethnic
backgrounds. According to Deardorff (2011), a considerable level of competence is vital for
social workers to adequately take their perspectives into account particularly in regards their
cultural identity and the standpoint from which the client would view it.
In general practice, the need to properly evaluate different aspects of the client’s belief
systems and values as well as their personal view of themselves within their respective cultures
is equally important as assessing their entire bio-psychosocial background. Ang and Van Dyne
(2015) observes that developing cultural sensitivity plays a significant role in helping social
workers to learn different perspectives and cultural views about particular social issues. More
specifically, Garran and Werkmeister Rozas (2013) observe that they contribute to dispelling any
possible generalization or myths that are circulating about a certain culture. With better insight,
social workers are able to appropriately get a suitable match between the client’s needs and the
offered services and available resources.
At the heart of competency and cultural sensitivity is effective communication that often
has as its basis a desirable end of establishing mutual respect and empathy. Fisher-Borne et al.
(2015) observe that social work professionals are encouraged to embrace cultural diversity,