Social Work Skills: Counselling, Intervention, and Case Studies

This report examines various social work skills and intervention methods through three case studies. Task 1 analyzes the use of group work and family group conferencing as intervention methods, using the case of Sarah, a 6-year-old girl in a custody dispute, to illustrate the application of these approaches. Task 2 explores the use of counselling and family therapy, particularly in the context of Mr. and Mrs. Oskar, a couple facing financial and marital challenges. The report highlights how family therapy can address their issues through improved communication and conflict resolution. Task 3 contrasts task-centered social work and crisis intervention, explaining their differing focuses and applications. The case of Sam, a teenager struggling with alcohol abuse and potential criminal behavior, is used to demonstrate how both methods can be beneficial, offering both short-term and long-term outcomes. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of these methods in addressing various social work challenges.

Running head: COUNSELLING AND INTERVENTION
Counselling and Intervention
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

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Task 1
Use of group work/family group conferencing as methods of intervention
Family group conferences (FMCs) and group work methods are developed as effective
tools for providing decision making models for serious problems related to justice and social
welfare. Family group conferences (FMCs) are essentially a formal meeting that involves family
members of the distressed individual and competent officials such as social workers, local
authorities and police in order to ensure the protection and care of a child or adolescent from
potential harm or protecting them from criminal offences (Maluccio and Daly 2017). It
originated in New Zealand, where it was originally used to allow the social workers act in
accordance with the Māori culture and values. It facilitates the entire whānau, i.e. family along
with its extended family members to participate in the decision making process for the affected
child or adolescent and come up with a decision that best suits the child’s needs and interests.
The mediated meeting allows the officials to raise concerns for the child and allows the family
members to develop a suitable plan that addresses the specific concerns (Goldson 2019).
On the other hand, group work is also another form of voluntary association of family
members to cater to the needs of an individual. In the field of social work and psychotherapy,
group work refers to group therapy offered by a skilled practitioner trained in psychoanalysis,
psychotherapy or counselling. In the context of social work, such group therapy helps the person
in distress to enhance their social functioning skill that could eventually bring about positive
changes. These changes, acquired through the educational process of group experiences and self-
reflection, have the potential to help an individual in the process of social adjustment through

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voluntary association. This association could also be the means of furthering socially desirable
ends (Brandler and Roman 2015).
Both the approaches mentioned above can be regarded as effective forms of intervention,
especially in the cases of child protection. With the help of Sarah’s case study, the claim can be
further elucidated. Sarah is a 6-year old girl who has recently lost her mother. Her father, who
has a history of alcoholism and domestic violence, has been recently released from prison. Under
such circumstances, Sarah’s custody has been a crucial issue for her extended family. They
consider Sarah’s father as totally unfit for taking care of her daughter due to his alcohol abuse
and threatening behaviour. However, there is a dispute as it is unclear which of Sarah’s family
members is best suited to for taking her custody. In this situation, a FMC would be an ideal
method of intervention to decide who will be the most suitable for taking care of Sarah. The
appointed practitioner in this case could raise concerns for Sarah’s needs such as educational,
developmental as well as mental and physical health needs. And her extended family, including
her grandmother who has Sarah’s custody for the time being, can review and discuss the
willingness, mental and economic ability as well as the appropriateness of the home environment
of the family members who can take care of Sarah’s needs. On the other hand, group work can
also be helpful for Sarah’s father in overcoming his problems of alcohol abuse and violent
behaviour, so that there could be a chance for him to cope up in the social adjustment process
and provide Sarah with the attention and care as the primary caregiver or biological parent.

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Task 2
Use of counselling/family therapy as methods of intervention
Social work originated as a helping measure with an aim to support and empower people
who suffer from various impediments in personal and social life. The majority of social workers
are called upon to assist the sections of the community who are going through difficult issues
related to relationships, emotions, domestic violence, discriminations, financial stress, substance
abuse, social exclusion etc. As a form of intervention, family therapy has been long regarded as
an effective method, particularly in the situations of substance abuse, marital problems, domestic
violence and problems in child support. (Adams, Dominelli and Payne 2017).
As it is seen in the case study of Mr. and Mrs. Oskar, the couple is going through a series
of problems that include several of the difficulties as mentioned above. The couple is originally
Polish immigrants, who have been living in America for the last 8 years. They are married for 12
years and have two children, of which one is 8 years old and then other only 6. Mr. Oskar has
lost his previous job as a machine worker in a factory, on the ground of redundancy. Presently,
he works as a shop floor assistant at a local supermarket, while Mrs. Oskar works as a
housekeeper. The family is facing severe economic crunch due to the redundancy and Mr. Oskar
works with lesser pay than his previouus job. He is also burdened with overtime work to meet
the financial need of the family. Besides, Mrs. Oskar complains that her husband has a drinking
problem, of which she is very much worried. Mr. Oskar, on the other hand, argues that drinking
is his only relaxation after a hectic week as he only drinks in the weekends. However, this
conflict of opinion has also brought about a marital discord between the couple, where Mr. Oskar
complains about his wife’s behaviour as ‘nagging’.

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In this situation, family therapy or couples therapy could indeed be an effective form of
intervention to support the family in their distress. Couples therapy or family therapy essentially
is aimed at resolving crises through focusing in the intimate relationships within the family and
subsequently nurturing and developing them. The underlying rationale of family therapy
maintains that involving family members in resolving the issue is always helpful, irrespective of
whether it is an individual or family issue (Minuchin 2018). In this regard, the family therapist
tries to influence the conversation in such a way that catalyzes the strengths, support and bond of
the family unit over the points of discord. It often involves the extended family in the process to
incorporate the wisdom, insights and help from the wider support network, which could foster
the bond and resolve disputes (McGoldrick and Hardy 2019).
The primary aim of family therapy, however, is to resolve conflict between family
members by developing communication. Therefore, by involving both the clients in the
counselling sessions and initiating a better communication between them, the therapist can
facilitate an opportunity to understand each other (Hanna 2018). Also, with a clinical assessment,
the therapist can also determine whether Mr. Oskar’s ‘drinking problem’ amounts to alcohol
abuse, which could also be resolved by family therapy. If not, Mrs. Oskar can be convinced on
her husband’s behalf and a dialogue could be initiated by the therapist where they can
collaborate and help each other in battling the financial issues and social difficulties that the
family is facing at present.

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Task 3
The differing uses of task-centered social work and crises intervention as methods of
intervention
In the field of social work, task-centered practice and crises intervention are two
systematic methods of interventions that have been regarded as the most influential practice
models in the recent timeline of social work practices. The task centered-approach of social
work, upon its development and implementation by Epstein and Reid, challenged the traditional
model of psychodynamic practices on the merit of its ‘evidence-based practice’. It dictates the
practitioner to utilize the empirical knowledge gathered over a period of time through
experience. Also, the model is designed in such a way that the operations and subsequent
outcomes of the problem solving efforts could be systematically evaluated, allowing the model to
be revised effectively (Doel and Marsh 2017).
By and large, task-centered model is a method to alleviate specific problems faced by the
clients. The therapist assesses the specific problems as the client recognize, acknowledge
understand, or is willing to attend as a priority. Thereby, the practitioner, with the participation
of the client, decides and designs tasks that will effectively alleviate the problem. In this sense, it
is a goal-oriented method wherein the clients are assisted in perform problem-reducing tasks
(Ronald 2017).
Crises intervention is often grouped with task-centered approach in order to get better
results in achieving the set goals. It is a short-term psychological care that assists individuals to
stay afloat in immediate crises situations in order to minimize potential long-term consequences

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of psychological trauma such as the death of a loved one, natural disasters, massive physical
injury, drastic transitions like parents’ divorce or forced displacements etc (France 2015).
Both the methods have a common ground based on their short term approach and focus
on problem solving. However, the differentiating aspect of this two approaches lie in their focus
areas. While task-centered approach focuses on the specific set of problems as defined by the
client, crises intervention aims to take up the task to disrupt a series of actions and events that
lead to the problematic behaviour. On the other hand, crises intervention uses practical tasks to
help the clients readjust in their social roles and build an emotional response that would help
them manage crises situations and long-term changes in their future life, whereas task-centered
approach focuses on solving problems pragmatically, but targets only immediate problems
(Payne 2014).
As seen in the case study of Sam, a teenager with a history of alcohol abuse and potential
affiliation to criminal offense, the task-centered approach will be helpful to address the pertinent
problem Sam is going through, i.e. alcohol, abuse and criminal tendencies and develop tasks to
reduce his immediate problems. Crises intervention model, on the other hand, would try to
disrupt the series of problematic behaviours, such as access to alcohol or the association with the
unfavourable individuals, so that Sam could refrain from engaging with them and eventually, has
limited or no long term influence on him. However, if both the approaches are used in this case,
the client can benefit from both short-term and long-term outcomes.

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References
Adams, R., Dominelli, L. and Payne, M. eds., 2017. Social work: Themes, issues and critical
debates. Palgrave Macmillan.
Brandler, S. and Roman, C.P., 2015. Group work: Skills and strategies for effective
interventions. Routledge.
Doel, M. and Marsh, P., 2017. Task-centred social work. Routledge.
France, K., 2015. Crisis intervention: A handbook of immediate person-to-person help. Charles
C Thomas Publisher.
Goldson, B. ed., 2019. Youth justice: contemporary policy and practice. Routledge.
Hanna, S.M., 2018. The practice of family therapy: Key elements across models. Routledge.
Maluccio, A.N. and Daly, J., 2017. Family group conferences as “good” child welfare practice.
In Family Group Conferencing (pp. 65-71). Routledge.
McGoldrick, M. and Hardy, K.V. eds., 2019. Re-visioning family therapy. Guilford Publications.
Minuchin, S., 2018. Families and family therapy. Routledge.
Payne, M., 2014. Modern social work theory. Oxford University Press.
Ronald, R., 2017. Task-Centered Practice. In Social Work Theory and Methods (pp. 94-104).
Routledge.

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