1 Action Plan Yamilet Carrada Florida International University Robert Stemple College of Public Health & Social Worker SOW3313- Social Work Practice with Families & Individuals Professor: Altheresa Clark, LCSW October 28, 2023 2 Problem Statement: Chiron Harris is a -29-year-old African American male who has faced bullying and needs a safe and supportive environment to explore and express his identity. Goal Statement 1: By March 1, 2024, the client will have developed coping strategies to manage the impact bullying has had on him. Objective 1: Client Chiron will enroll in one support group therapy to understand the significant impact bullying has caused in his life. (By November 30, 2023) Tasks: a. The client will locate one support group therapy that specializes in accepting others and in self-growth. (By November 10, 2023) b. The client will organize his work schedule accordingly to fit in with the weekly support group therapy. (By November 15, 2023) c. Client Chiron will attend a group therapy session and reflect on his own personal experiences and emotions related to bullying through his journaling and reporting it to the social worker through weekly meetings. (By November 30, 2023) Objective 2: The social worker and client will research 5 coping methods to use when encountering bullying again. (By December 13, 2023) Tasks: a. Social Worker and client will focus on 3 different coping methods when encountering bullying. (November 22, 2023) 3 b. The client will begin to practice the 3 different coping methods and will practice three times a week until he has fully learned them. (By December 6, 2023) c. The client will use the coping methods in real-life scenarios and meet with the social worker to rate how effectively they have worked. (By December 13, 2023) Objective 3: The client will embark on a self-care activity to prioritize his own well-being. (By December 31, 2023) Tasks: a. The client will make a list, listing 4 things he enjoys doing on his own. (By December 15, 2023) b. Each week the client will do one thing to prioritize his own well-being. (By December 18, 2023) c. The client will report to the social worker by the end of each week how has he been feeling after his self-care activity. (By December 29, 2023) Goal statement 2: By March 1, 2024, the client will feel comfortable engaging in social events and activities with others where he will feel included. Objective 1: The client will begin to open up his social network in order to be able to reach out to others. (By January 15, 2024) Tasks: a. The client and social worker will compile a list of 6 friends or relatives to whom he finds himself closest. (By January 2, 2024) 4 b. Out of the list of 6 friends or relatives, the client will select 3 people to reach out to again and plan an activity with each one. (By January 6, 2024) c. When the client goes out with each person, he will try to do something out of his usual comfort zone such as being more expressive. He will then report to the social worker how did being more expressive and going out made him feel. (By January 15, 2024) Objective 2: Client Chiron will join a supportive LGBTQ community that celebrates diversity and promotes inclusivity. (By January 29, 2024) Tasks: a. The social worker and client will search for 5 supportive LGBTQ communities that promote diversity and inclusivity. (By January 10, 2024) b. Client Chiron will select one support LGBTQ group in which he feels most comfortable expressing his thoughts and feelings. (By January 14, 2024) c. The client will engage in 2 monthly LGBTQ events and outreach programs to raise awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion, reporting it to the social worker. (By January 29, 2024) Objective 3: The client will begin to take part in public speaking with the LGBTQ group helping others feel included. (By February 29, 2024) Tasks: a. The client will research information on 3 places where public LGBTQ speaking events occur. (By February 5, 2024) b. The client will reach out to 2 of these LGBTQ-speaking events scheduling a specific time and date where he will attend and speak to this group. (By February 9, 2024) 5 c. The client will meet with the social worker to report about how his public speaking to the LGBTQ group made him feel. (By February 26, 2024) Progress toward these objectives will be reviewed and evaluated by means of the following procedures or methods To evaluate the progress toward the first goal, in the first objective, the social worker will monitor weekly meetings through the client’s attendance. To evaluate the second objective client will meet with the social worker to rate how effectively the coping methods have worked. Rating them on a scale from 1 to 5. To evaluate the progress with the third objective the client will report to the social worker by the end of each week how has he been feeling after his self-care activity rating on a scale of 1 to 5 how good or bad his self-care activity has been making him feel. To evaluate the progress towards the second goal, for the first objective the client will report to the social worker how being more expressive and going out made him feel and what did he in the activities he organized. To evaluate the progress of the second objective the client will email screenshots of LGBTQ events he has engaged in to show the social worker. To evaluate the progress of the third objective the client will email a screenshot of the confirmation of the appoint for his public speaking event with the LGBTQ group. Running head: ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION Antwone Fisher’s Intervention and Evaluation Florida International University Julia Pomeroy 1 ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 2 Antwone Fisher’s Intervention and Evaluation Antwone Fisher is an African-American straight male born on August 3rd, 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently works and lives at the United States Navy in the San Diego, California Naval Base as the ship’s Serviceman Third Class. He is in a relationship with Petty Officer Second Class Cheryl Smolley who also works and lives at the Naval Base. After finishing his allotted hours with Navy Social Worker, Dr. Davenport, the client is now seeking further help at this agency. Mr. Fisher and the social worker have identified two goals to work on in tandem. The first goal is to reduce the daily frequency and intensity of Mr. Fisher’s anger and anxiety. The second goal is to help Mr. Fisher increase his communication with his paternal family and girlfriend Cheryl by engaging in conversation in person or through the phone. As a generalist practitioner, the social worker has decided to use the Psychoeducation and Task-Centered Model to address goal number one, and the Task-Centered model to address goal number two. The Psychoeducation model is utilized to, “generally emphasize the presentation of factual information about mental illness and treatment to address misperceptions and provide optimistic messages about the treatability of mental health problems” (Alvidrez, Snowden, Rao, & Boccellari, 2009). This model emphasizes utilizing information for the client to conceptualize a problem, possible solutions, and treatments with factual information or resources. The utilization of this model will greatly benefit Mr. Fisher because of his interest and need in resources and strategies that will help him reduce his anger and anxiety. The Task-Centered Model is an intervention that would greatly benefit Mr. Fisher because of the many tasks that underlie both of his goals. According to Reid (1997), the Task-Centered model is, “…designed to help clients clarify the problems, identify external actions (that is, tasks) needed to resolve them, and implement the tasks in their life situations.” ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 3 This model is well suited for Mr. Fisher because he is determined to help himself. He just does not understand where to start or how to attain his goal. By collaborating with him on a step-by-step structured plan to reach his goals, completing the goals become that much more attainable for him. There are three techniques that will be used during the intervention for the first goal. The social worker will utilize the providing information, roleplaying, and the feelings list techniques (Sheafor & Horejsi, 2015). For Mr. Fisher’s first goal of reducing his anxiety, one task is to to utilize Navy anger management resources. When the topic of anger management courses were brought up, Mr. Fisher was hesitant because he believed only those who beat their wives go to anger management classes. By providing information, the social worker provides facts about who is encouraged to go, why they go, and what the meetings entail. Mr. Fisher could potentially feel less hesitant about utilizing this resource and can make an informed decision about completing this task. Social worker will evaluate Mr. Fisher’s progress towards this task by utilizing the Clinical Anger Scale (CAS). Social worker will provide the CAS scale to Mr. Fisher every month for the duration of the Navy anger management meetings. The CAS is a 21 question multiple-choice scale that measures the feelings of anger an individual is currently experiencing. By utilizing this scale, social worker can monitor and evaluate if Mr. Fisher’s points go down on the scale, indicating lower levels of anger by the next time the scale is completed. Ideally, Mr. Fisher will go down by 1 point every week and at least 4 points total every month. In his second task to utilize mindfulness for reduction in past-trauma induced anxiety, social worker and Mr. Fisher will utilize role playing. Social worker will explain the therapeutic benefits of mindfulness meditation, how it affects the brain, and could potentially positively ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 4 affect Mr. Fisher’s cognition. Social worker will then help Mr. Fisher conceptualize how it works. Social worker will practice breathing techniques with Mr. Fisher and play one of the online video resources that will guide him through the process of being mindful. After learning and practicing with social worker, Mr. Fisher might be more willing to practice on his own after being taught what to do. Social worker and Mr. Fisher will create a service plan outcome checklist (SPOC) to measure Mr. Fishers mindfulness progress and how it is affecting him. SPOC will focus on how much was learned, how well skills were developed, how satisfied Mr. Fisher is with the mindfulness meditation, etc. On the left column, Mr. Fisher will check the goals he would like to achieve with mindfulness. On the right column there will be a rating scale of 1-5 that indicates ‘no progress’ to ‘fully achieved’. Social worker and Mr. Fisher will utilize this scale every month, while mini check-ins will be conducted weekly to track Mr. Fishers progress. If the answers in the right column continue to progress towards “fully achieved” after each time Mr. Fisher fills out the scale, social worker will know this technique is working and benefiting him. For the third task, Mr. Fisher will utilize Navy support counseling services. Social worker will supplement this task by utilizing a feelings list. Mr. Fisher was not allowed to have an opinion, speak freely, or feel freely as a child. He currently has a difficult time expressing his feelings. After going to counseling at the Naval Base, Mr. Fisher could potentially have trouble placing his feelings about what has just occured. Social worker will present Mr. Fisher with a feelings list during the next meeting so Mr. Fisher can see a tangible manifestation of his thoughts and possible feelings. Through the feelings list, Mr. Fisher will be able to better express himself. ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 5 Social worker will utilize the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale every two months with Mr. Fisher. The scale is a 20 question scale Mr. Fisher will fill out a column for each question how he feels about each question on a scale of “a little of the time” to “most of the time”. By utilizing this scale every two months, it gives Mr. Fisher time to get acclimated with the counselor and learn techniques to help him in moments where he finds himself battling with anxiety of any level. This way, it gives Mr. Fisher time to progress to totalling a lower goal score of 35, indicating normal anxiety levels, out of a possible 80 on the scale each time the scale is completed. Mr. Fisher would like to lower his score by at least 4 points bi-weekly. There are three techniques that will be used during the intervention for the second goal. The social worker will utilize the homework, building self-esteem, and the journaling techniques (Sheafor & Horejsi, 2015). For Mr. Fisher’s second goal of increasing his communication with his paternal family and girlfriend, one task is to learn more about family while increasing communication. By utilizing the homework technique, it will give Mr. Fisher the incentive to come to each meeting having completed his tasked talk time with his paternal aunt. Mr. Fisher is a client who is willing to accept direction from the social worker and is likely to complete this task and increase communication with his family. This task will help the social worker and Mr. Fisher evaluate his progress as he completes, or does not complete, his homework. Mr. Fisher will bring back recorded statements about each conversation with his aunt to every meeting with social worker. In order to evaluate the quality and content of the calls, Mr. Fisher and social worker created a scale that dictates whether the call was uncomfortable or awkward (score of 0), comfortable and engaging (score of 10), or somewhere inbetween. By bringing recorded statements and Mr. Fishers score on the call, social worker and Mr. Fisher can evaluate how the line of communication with his aunt is ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 6 progressing. If the quality of the conversations increases over time, from awkward and polite conversation to comfortable chatting, social worker will take note and push for more weekly calls with his aunt to further progress. For the second task, Mr. Fisher wants to open up to Cheryl and increase transparency. Mr. Fisher has stated he is having trouble with his confidence and feelings of self-worth when it comes to opening up about himself to Cheryl. These feelings, often times, barricade him from being transparent with her and he inverts back into himself. The social worker will introduce the self-esteem technique to Mr. Fisher that designs tasks and objectives for him to complete while increasing difficulty. By utilizing this technique, social worker will see where Mr. Fisher’s ceiling is with his capability to open up and be vulnerable with his girlfriend. As he works with Cheryl and continues to talk to her, Mr. Fisher may begin to see how much he is capable of handling. This can potentially increase his self-esteem when it comes to communication, transparency, and how he handles vulnerability, especially when talking to Cheryl. Social worker and Mr. Fisher will work on an individualized rating scale in order to evaluate Mr. Fisher’s progress with his communication with Cheryl. Social worker will help Mr. Fisher recognize the value of measuring each behavior and then carefully identify what will be measured. Social worker and Mr. Fisher will create a continuum from negative to positive. Mr. Fisher will rate the change in the amount of his discomfort with sharing and talking to Cheryl after each date. The data will be collected and plotted on a line graph that can be easily interpreted to show positive, negative, or no change. From there, social worker and Mr. Fisher can evaluate if the technique is working or whether it needs to be adjusted or changed. If Mr. Fisher’s line graph continues to show negative or no change (line going down or staying ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 7 stagnant), social worker will ask for possible barriers to achievement of his task and tweak it from there. In the third task of strengthening connection and trust with paternal family, social worker will utilize the journaling technique. This technique will especially benefit Mr. Fisher because he enjoys writing. By journaling, Mr. Fisher will be able to explore and write down his internal narrative and feelings as he goes through the tasks of calling his aunt, getting time off with Cheryl, time leading to his venture, getting on the flight to Cleveland, and seeing his paternal family. Mr. Fisher will be feeling a great deal of emotions as he progresses through the plan to go visit his family and during the occasion. Writing down his feelings will help him comprehend and physically see where his mind is at during this time. Mr. Fisher will write in his journal every week about what steps have been taken to achieve this task and how he has felt during it. Mr. Fisher and social worker will evaluate his progress towards flying out to Cleveland. Mr. Fisher will document his journey in the journal and present the flight itinerary to social worker. Social worker and Mr. Fisher not only get to see his progress, or stagnation, this way, but they get to evaluate it in tandem. Working together makes the process more inclusive and less intimidating for Mr. Fisher. If the contents of his journal express immense anxiety before or after the trip, social worker will address it with Mr. Fisher and work through the anxiety with him. Mr. Fisher is a young adult who has gone through and survived great tragedy in his life. He lives and works at the Navy Base in San Francisco. He has connections to resources through the Navy, support through his girlfriend, and now his paternal family. He has explained how he wants to become a better man by channeling his anger into something positive and by becoming more connected to his girlfriend and paternal family. Social worker and Mr. Fisher have come up ANTWONE FISHER’S INTERVENTION AND EVALUATION 8 with goals with tasks that are supplemented with techniques that will hopefully help Mr. Fisher show a positive change in his behavior and relationships. References Alvidrez, J., Snowden, L., Rao, S., & Boccellari, A. (2009). Psychoeducation to address stigma in black adults referred for mental health treatment: A randomized pilot study. Community Mental Health Journal, 45(2), 127-136. 10.1007/s10597-008-9169-0 Retrieved from http://www-ncbi-nlm-nih-gov.ezproxy.fiu.edu/pubmed/18841473 Sheafor, B. W., & Horejsi, C. R. (2015). Techniques and guidelines for social work practice (10th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education. William J. Reid; Research on task-centered practice, Social Work Research, Volume 21, Issue 3, 1 September 1997, Pages 132–137, Retrieved from https://doi-org.ezproxy.fiu.edu/10.1093/swr/21.3.132
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