CLIENTELE AND AUDIENCES IN SOCIAL WORK CHARACTERISTICS AND Neeps oF Various Types oF CLIENTELE Social work is a profession is concerned with helping individuals, families, groups, and communities to enhance their individual and collective well- being. The discussion below clarifies the characteristics and needs of these _ Clienteles. Working with Individuals In casework, the individual is the principal client and efforts of helping are focused on her/him. De Guzman (1992) explains that the person’s inability to manage stress which may have been a result of a distressful situation or Problem caused her/him or those concerned with her/him to seek professional help. The social. worker then needs to acquire basic knowledge of human behavior, of stress and the human being’s response to it in order for her/him to understand the situation of the client and eventually help the. latter. In the Casework process, the.aim of the intervention is to facilitate the individual's Social adaptation, to restore, reshape, or reinforce her/his functioning as a Social being. For a start, the worker must understand that the person is a “biopsychosocial being” wherein s/he is made up of at least three parts or Subsystems—the physical, the psychological, and the social. Each of this affects and is in turn being affected by the others so thatitis their totality as a System that determines the person's functioning rather that the individualized Pération of each subsystem. Thus, in order to help the person, the workerneeds to know whether that person can be helped and how s/he can be helped. Moreover, social casework is more “client or person-centered’ rather than problem focused in that it is the person’s mode of adaptation that will determine whether problem can be resolved or alleviated or the difficulty removed or reduced (Perlman, 1957 as cited in De Guzman, 1992, p. 32-33), It is also imperative to know that in casework, the worker needs to understand that the person's present behavior is a manifestation of her/his own mode of adaptation to her/his current condition that has caused her/ him stress. Each person makes her/his own adaptation to the demands of the various roles to perform in her/his situation depending on her/his capacities and. motivation* ‘to do’so. This intends to gain Satisfaction; avoid or dissolve frustration, and to maintain her/his balance i in movement. When a person: faces a threatening situation, s/he will likely try to use her/his accustomed Modes of adaptation and if these fail, s/he will revert to modes s/he previously” used. Samples of modes of adaptation include fight, flight, and pairing. + Fight—means physical or verbal projection of angry feelings on others especially when encountering difficult circumstances, frustration, disappointment, or even anxiety. Examples of this are: when a wife quarrels with her husband because of jealousy or a person under stress finds her/himself shouting. | + Flight—this is manifested when the person physically moves away: ] from the problem like resorting to drugs, alcohol or substances that will make one forget the current stressful situation (e.g. husbands or, | fathers who abandoned their families because they can no longer... provide economic support or a youth who turned to be a drug: dependent to escape problems at home). + Pairing—it entails the-entry into a relationship with another person who is perceived to be stronger, stable, or who has the capacity to - provide he'p over her/his problem (e.g. solo parents forming a support: | group for emotional and psychological support or a “barkada system especially among out-school youth). For the caseworker, the assessment of a person's ego strengths and! defenses are essential in the helping process since it provide insights on how the client can be helped to ensure an effective and satisfying adaptation 5 4 to a stressful situation (De Guzman, 1992, p. 46-47). 4 Below are some of the clients who may need the social worker or the’ agency's help through casework. This may include the following but nat limited to:et) ChildreriWho are either abandoned, neglected, orphaned, abused, or exploited; (i) Children in conflict with the law, street children, children living with or affected by HIV; (ill) Out-of-school youth; 5 (iv) Socially disadwantaged women; (v) Solo parents; (vi) Persons with disabilities, physically, and mentally challenged individuals; (vil) Elderly; (vill) Indigenous peoples; (ix). Internally displaced persons; (x) Survivors of natural calamities and disasters, or those affected by armed conflicts; The typology of clients may include the voluntary clients, those involuntary clients, and those who are being assisted by another person or agency. This will also be mentioned in Lesson IV of this chapter. Voluntary clients are those persons who opted to voluntarily seek the assistance of the worker or the services of the agency due to a problem or a difficulty which s/he thinks s/he cannot do anything by her/himself. This is also referred to as walk-in clients. Examples of which are the following: a solo parent seeking material assistance, a displaced person asking for core shelter assistance, a physicaliy challenged person needing medical attention, etc. Involuntary clients are those certain types of individuals in need who may not even consider asking for help because they think that they are doing fine and will survive somehow or they are unaware of the agencies that can provide with them some assistance. These persons, often referred to. as reach-out clients, may not even think of her/himself as needing help and considered their present situation as normal and not unusual. These may include the street children, working children, some children/youth in ’ indigenous communities, and some out of school youth. Other clients are being assisted by another person (other family member, felative, friend or neighbor), group/organizations or community leaders/ ne. Be - anes about the client's situation. They are also called i ive pr Ee is. These may Include the drug dependent, abandoned child, gnant, an elderly without any family, etc. ceo ic 992) also introduced factors (or relationship components/ ie authors would refer) that may affect or influence thehelping relationship between the client and the worker*These factors may interfere and cause difficulties in the helping relationship and therefore must be dealt with accordingly. Understanding these factors may help the worker | avoid these consequences. These relationship components or factors are: | transference, counter-transference, and reality. | (i) Transference—are the client's reactions and displacement on | the worker of the particular feelings and attitudes s/he may have experienced earlier in life in relationship with the members of her/ his family such as the father/mother or significant other. This means | that s/he responds to and relates to the worker unconsciously in the | manner that s/ne used to react to that familiar figure and sometimes | the client becomes unaware that s/he is already re-enacting some of her/his early behavior. This is often associated to some mechanisms | such as projection and identification. This can be used by the worker | for ego support or for strengthening the client’s Personality (p. 152). | Counter-transference—are the worker's relationship reactions | that s/he may project on the client and usually it is the worker who | transfers previously experienced feelings ‘on the client. Same with | transference, this reaction is also unconscious and not reality based. | An example of this is when a worker reacts to a male client (as the | worker reacted in the past with hostility and anger towards her/his own father) who abandoned his wife and son only to set up another | family with a common-law wife (p. 153-154), Z| Reality—is the realistic and objective perception of existing condition | or situation. tt is the state of what is actual, what is, and what is true (p. 155). : (i tn casework process, there are certain ethical considerations that govern the client-worker relationship that were put together by Biestek (1957) as; cited in De Guzman (1992). These are: ; + Acceptance—the worker's recognition of the individual's worth as human being imbued with inherent worth and dignity. 4 + Nonjudgmental attitude—this means without labeling, no stereotyping 4 and noncondemnatory act that refrains from assigning blame, gull or failure to the client, a S + Individualization—this characterizes that every individual is uniqu and possesses certain traits or attributes specific only to her/himse! This simply means that “no two Persons are exactly alike” and thi distinguishes a single human being separately from a group.& + Purposefi ression of; feainge= tera tothe B worrerd allowing and facilitating the client's purposeful expression of feelings. This means the free sharing with a sympathetic worker of her/his thoughts and feelings even the negative ones. + Controlled emotional involvement—tefers to the worker's way of responding to the client's purposeful expression of feelings. It must involve sensitivity, understanding, and responding. It means that the worker. must keep her/his own emotions under control and should empathize but not over-identify with the client as the latter would pour out her/his woes and troubles. + Confidentiality—reters to the preservation of secret information concerning the client which is disclosed in the professional relationship. + Self-determination—t is derivative of the belief in the inherent worth and dignity of a person—that s/he is endowed with a reason and a free will and is capable of making her/his own choices. Client's self- determination refers to the right and need of the person to make her/ his own choices and decisions as s/he is being helped. Working with Groups and Organizations Social group work as a process and method is rooted on the socidlogical concept that a person is a social being who has the inclination and need to associate with other human beings. Another concept of social group work is that a group can be utilized as a target for change, as a medium for change, and as agent for change. As a target for change, members in a group are clients of an agency who heve common problems, needs, and concerns that match the agency's or. worker's group service orientation. As a medium for change, the group is uséd to facilitate the growth and development needs of some members Of the group as the need for self-expression, communication, relationship, developing self confidence and modifying negative attitudes, behavior, and Values, As an agent of change, the group is used to effect the desired Crs ‘Needed outside the group. In social group work process, one should remember the philosophy of Social group work as formulated by Trecker (1965) as cited in Miclat (1995) Which states that: The need for group experience is basic and universal. That group of individuals can be helped to grow and change in personality, attitudes and Values through group experiences . . . that persons not only develop in-groups but also through groups. And that groups are dynamic, everchanging and must be accepted by the social worker at its level of- development. The purposes of social group work include the following: (i) To enhance the social adjustment of the individual and developing the social consciousness; (ii) To provide opportunities for planned group experiences that are needed by all people; (iii) To provide experiences that are relaxing and that give individuals a chance to create, to share and express themselves; and (iv) To help individuals in groups to take responsibility for their own ' behavior, relate with others and how te become participating members + of society. 3 Trecker (1965) also presented the statement of principles as a result of his long years of study and experience in teaching social group work. These are the following: (i) The principle of planned group formation—this principle requires thé: group in social group work to possess conscious design and plan and must contain the potential for social growth of its member. (ii) The principle of specific objectives—this principle recognizes that specific objectives for individual and group development must: } be consciously formulated by the social group worker in order te effectively meet the group’s needs and concerns. i The principle of purposeful worker-group relationship—this principle is premised on the assumption that there has been established acceptance between the group members and the worker. © (iv) The principle of continuous individualization—this principle entails: the worker to consciously understand and accept that subgroups - and individuals within the group develop and change in varying | levels and must therefore know how to use the group work process ‘| . _ in meeting the varying levels of needs of the members. a (v) The principle of guided group interaction—this principle recognize: that guided group interaction is considered to be the heart otf the social group work process and this refers to the harnessin: direction, and conscious utilization of the natural process of sod! interaction in the group. 4 (vi) The principle of democratic self determination—this principle ss anchored on the belief that groups have the right to make choices: and that they are endowed with the capacity to make decisions. sf(vil) The pri siple of flexible functional organization—this principle underscores the need to have flexibility in formal organizations so that it can be adaptive to any change that may arise. (vil) The principle of progressive program experiences—this principle emphasizes the need forthe group to engage in program experiences at the level of member's interest, need, experience, and capacity. Also, it should evolve in relation to the developing of the group's competence. Miclat (1995) shared different typologies of groups have their own specific joals and objectives, to wit: (i) Growth group—the dominant goal is the personal growth of the participants in group at. all levels in their emotional, interpersonal, intellectual, and spiritual phase of their life. The specific objectives of the group are: to make people better; to develop group trust and in-depth. relationship; to encourage constructive changes in both attitudes and feelings on the one hand and behavior and relationships on the other; and to awaken the innate drive in every individual in the group to develop her/his potentials (p. 21). (ii) Treatment group—the goal is to help solve the individual's problems in social adjustment, uncover deep-seated conflicts, hostilities and depression, modify/sublimate antisociaV/aberrant behaviors/attitudes, and positivize negative social and cultural values. The specific objectives of the treatment vary in order to appropriately respond to common problems/needs of the different types Of groups that may include the following: unwed mothers who are minors, street children, prostituted women, drug dependents, persons with disabilities, solo parents, people living or affected with HIV, alcoholics, children in conflict with the law, psychiatric ward patients, etc. (iil) Social group—the goal is to provide opportunities for social relationships to the lonely, the friendless, and. those who have problems in relating with other persons. This group aims to: (a) forma friendly and congenial atmosphere where the members are able to comfortably relate in a deeper level with at least a member of the group; (b) provide program activities that would give greater interaction among the members through smaller group discussions, exercises, games, picnics and field trips; and (c) organize the group for club activities. with social orientation to become agent of change in their community.oa (iv) Interest group—the goal is to primarily answer.thé unmet interests/ needs of the group members through appropriate program of activities and services to the agency as well as the community. The specific objective of the group is the provision for appropriate outlets that would meet the varied unmet interests of the members through _ Creative and innovative activities, programs, and services. (v) Play/Recreation group—the goal is to provide pleasurable activities through games, dances, songs/music, dramatics, and other leisure- time activities as medium for meeting the individual's leisure and recreational needs that would also redound to their development. Working with Communities Arlene Johnson as cited in Miclat (n.d.) defined community as a group of people gathered together ina geographic area, large or small, who have common interests, actual or potentially recognized in the social welfare field. The two concepts of a community were developed by Roland Warren. As @ social system, the community may be either geographic or functional in nature. A geographic community refers to the people ina specific geographic area like village, barangay, sitio, district, municipality, city, province, region, nation, or the world. A functional community, on the other hand, is composed of the people who hold coramon values, share some common functions or express some common interest such as education, health, livelihood, labor, welfare or recreation. Examples of this concept are the community chest, the professional community, the fisherfolk ‘community, the banking community, ete. The nature of community organization can be traced in the works of Ross (1955), Dunham (1970) and Cox et al. (1979). For instance, Ross (1955) would have described it as a process by which a community identifies its needs or objectives, ranks them, finds the internal or external resources to deal with them, takes actions, and extends and develops cooperative and collaborative attitudes, and practices in the community, The philosophy of community organization is the acceptance of the right of the community to decide what it wants rather than having the organizer's views imposed upon It, belief on the capacity of the people to find richer and more satisfying ways of living if they are helped to use the resources within themselves and their environment which are and could be made available for them. The following are the focus of community organization: i. Removal of blocks to growth ‘ ii, The release of potentialities in the individual, group and communities. 9 as a whole ;6 iii, The development of the capacity of indigenous leaders to lead, to manage, and function in their assigned social roles in the community iv. Developing the ability of different sectors in the community to function as an integrated whole ae y, Strengthening people's capacity for problem-solving, decision- i making, and cooperation. * vi. The full use of inner/indigenous resources. before tapping external resources 5 The purposes of community organization include the following: i. To solve certain problems and meet needs ii. To achieve selected social goals iii: To strengthen the people’s capacity in dealing with their Corer needs, and aspirations.. Miclat elaborated that the CO worker is expected to help the community to achieve some selected social goals and objectives. It may be their aspirations for a better life such as ownership of the land they till as tenants or the eiectrification of their community to boost economic productivity. In this particular case, the CO worker will act as broker with the-landlord, the Department of Agrarian Reform and Department of Energy to assist them achieve their aspirations.