POST GRADUATE PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WORK

COURSE- SOCIAL WORK PRACTICUM

ACADEMIC YEAR- 2015

INSTRUCTOR- MOSSISA K. (PhD)

CONCCURENT VISIT REPORT

PREPARED BY: TIZITA CHAKA

ID NO: SGS0575/2015A

Report 7

June, 2023
Date of field work: June 1, 2023

Name of the agency: Integrated family service organization (IFSO)

Time spent in the agency: 3 hours

Activities performed today: Today I get the chance to have an interview with a girl who
has been raped by a neighbor. The counselor told me to develop a case work based on the
interview, and come with an intervention plan. Here is what I have found out during the
interview. The girl is 13 years old girl who is in grade 5 this year. She lives with her mother who
works at night as the girl told me. But she doesn’t know what exactly her mother does for living.
They live in a “Keble” house where there are many household in one residential. One cursed
night; as usual her mother went out for work. She told the girl not to open the door for anyone
until she comes back. And the mother left. As the girl told me not long after her mother left, they
door got knocked so hard. In fear and panic she asked who it was. It was the guy from next door.
He told her to open the door for him, so that they can play together until her mother comes back.
The girl calmed down because they guy is familiar to her, and lives next door. She never thought
that he would do anything to harm her. After she opened the door they came in very quick and
then choked her mouth making her unable to scream and breath. The girl didn’t remember the
thing happened clearly after this. When she wakes up she got herself at a hospital bed her mother
beside her crying and neighbors calming her down. She was given medical support and get
discharged after a week of treatment. Police have already received her words while she was in
the hospital and decided that she need to evacuate the place where she used to live.

Observation related to agency functioning: Ifso have a received a support letter from
kolefe around 02 police station to take a girl and support her with a holistic services as usual.
Ifso had sent the counselor to the station and bring the child to the head office to have an
interview and assessments to intake her to the shelter. The head office has its’ own private room
to enable us to interview and do the assessment with clients. I did an assessment that enables me
to develop a case work. As her medical report the one we received from the police station says
the girl is sexually abused by a neighborhood guy who is familiar to the girl. She had the
memory of the incident in a blurred image. She told me that she was having sleepless night and

June, 2023
sweat during asleep. She got ashamed of her body. Ever since the accident she is having
confusion, fear, hopelessness, helplessness and shame, low appetite, difficulty sleeping, be
anxious, struggle to concentrate, cope with school work. She is also scared of the neighborhoods
will blame her for opening the door, her schoolmates would bully her. So the intervention `would
be to solve these problems.

Teamwork: As it is known a case work is something that can be done in group/team. I have
planned an intervention plan that can involve number of staffs from the agency. So I suggested
the team to go as the intervention plan, and have a great dedication to the tasks given to them.

Assigned tasks: The program coordinator assigned me to do an interview with a client, do a

need assessment and come up with an appropriate intervention plan.

Observation regarding client system and service delivery: The interview was
guided by a client needs assessment template provided by the agency. The client assessment tool
helped me to ask the right questions to fully understand my client’s situation and needs. I
ensured that I and my client are in a comfortable space where my client feels safe. As my client
is under 18, I allowed her mother to stay with us during the interview. The girl also agreed on it,
she even asked me if she can be with her mother before I let the mother to stay in. I started the
interview by introducing myself to the client and explain what my position is. Then I proceed by
asking open-ended questions, which are questions that cannot be answered “yes” or “no. I was
also outlining steps that can be taken next. After lots of emotions during the interview I managed
to fill the entire need assessment template and finished what I wanted to ask her. According to
my assessment the intervention plan will be implemented while the girl stays at the shelter. So I
documented all the necessary information I gathered from the girl, need assessment and
documents I’ve received from the police station including her medical record. According to the
agency’s system,’ the girl will get services that can be put in different categories.

 Education
 Basic need services
 Legal Assist
 Counseling service
 Family capacity building trainings

June, 2023
  Assist in medical follow up

The shelter has its’ own teacher so that the children would get the chance to learn major subjects
so as not to detach from their education while they stay at the shelter. So my client will have this
service. The agency accommodates food, shelter and clothing to the children at the shelter. The
main service the agency offer is the counseling service that enables the children to overcome
their fear, shame, helplessness, and hopelessness and enable them to see their future bright. On
the psychological point of view my client is under posttraumatic disorder which I suggest to be
solved by consecutive counselling sessions. I discussed with the counselor about the number of
sessions that this girl needs. We decided on 8 counseling sessions including group and art
therapy would be enough. While her case is going through the legal process all the sessions will
be carried out in the shelter. The girl will also be provided transportation to the court whenever
she has an appointment; as the mother told me, I have found that the mother who works at night
is a sex worker. So this would be a big problem and make the girl vulnerable again even after the
treatment. So in this case work I have also plan to include her mother in one of Ifso’s
project( which is in the sponsorship project) that provides an opportunity to sex workers to take
vocational training and change their field of work to support themselves. Beside the vocational
training, her mother would also have a training on parenting skill as her daughter is sexual abuse
survival, she needs to know how she can treat her or communicate her. So this holistic support
will be provided to the girl at the shelter and to the mother coming from her home.

Administrative Assignments: The project coordinator has already informed me the day
before that I would do the interview today. He also sent to me documents that can help me
prepare for the interview and develop a case work. He told me to consider today’s task very
seriously, because the client will be served in the shelter based on my assessment and
intervention plan

Social work skills used: Today I have used major social work skills. These are; active
listening, enabling my client to feel heard and understood, sorting out information, and analysis
of information.

June, 2023
Reflection about acquired social work knowledge, skills & attitude, strengths
and weakness of the agency with possible means of improving weaknesses:

Attitude: Today I have gone to the agency based on my schedule. I was already aware of today’s
task. So I was preparing, referring book and the lesson I have learnt in the class room so that I
can be a good interviewee and serve my client in a way that should be. During the interview I
have tried my best to show compassion, objectivity, integrity and the demonstration of respect
for, and consideration of their feelings, emotions and needs.

Skills: As I was preparing for the interview the night before, I have tried to practice skill that I
have learnt in the class, and read on the documents. During the day I acquired skills as such
asking questions that only elicit useful information questioning, active listening, note-taking,
tone control, compassion, empathy, critical thinking, patience and persistence, demonstrating a
genuine interest, using appropriate language, structure, awareness of client choice, and ending
the interview.

Knowledge: Today I have come to know how I can provide a comfortable setting to my client,
carry out the entire interview process and find out some methods of intervention, and the
processes involved in intervention.

Strength: Putting a trust on a fresh social work and give a responsibility as such developing
a case work alone is another level of organizational quality for me. I am not saying this because I
was the one who got this opportunity. As I was told it is a trend of the organization. I believe that
an organization which believes in empowering young and fresh staff members will shine and go
milestones. Today I have seen the secret behind the persistency of the organization over these
whole years. Empowering the employees

Weakness: As a weakness, during designing the intervention plan I had an idea if the girl
could access a medical treatment in a health center, I asked if the organization has a link or
connection with any health center. But I have found that the organization hasn’t established
formal connection with any health center in the city. Whenever there is a medical case in the
shelters they would go to the nearest or random health center to get the treatment. This way of
doing doesn’t consider the cost or quality of service they provide. But having a formal

June, 2023
relationship with health centers could minimize the cost and assure the quality service for
medical issues.

Alternative way improving the weakness: It would be great and cost effective if IFSO
has deal with one or two health centers which supports a service regarding sexual abuse

Activities planned for next day: We have planned to do a group therapy at the shelter.

Learning Achievements summary: As a major learning achievement I would like to put

the skills and knowledge I acquired on interviewing a client as a social worker. I have learned
that before rushing into interview questions on lengthy agency forms, to build rapport and to
show respect. Chatting casually about everyday life helps establish a personal connection. I
learned to avoid coming across like I am just there to do my job. As the purpose of a social work
interview is to gather information about the client's history, needs and strengths, it has to be done
properly. One of the most important social work interviewing skills I have learned today is
creating a safe space for my clients. A supportive environment lets my clients know that it's OK
to open up and let down their guard. It helps promote a feeling of respect and equality between
me and my client. Methods for promoting this type of safe treatment environment vary from one
social worker to another. Examples I used the following way: arranging the room space so that
me and my client are seated opposite each other, without a table or desk in between to create a
power differential, I asked my clients to refer to me by my nick name (tizu) name instead of
"Ms.".

The other is asking the right questions. It is a foundation of any social work interview. However,
my questions need to have a purpose and should not be based on my own personal curiosity
about a client. Phrasing questions in open-ended form, when possible and appropriate to the
function of my interview, shows my clients that I am interested and open to hearing what they
have to say. An open-ended question is one that cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no"
answer or just a few words. Questions with those kinds of brief answers are referred to as
"closed-ended questions. So I have learnt that open-ended questions encourage clients to open up
and talk about themselves, thereby facilitating growth and insight.

June, 2023
And the last but no least I have learnt that active listening is a social work interview technique
that helps clients feel heard and understood. Active listening involves the combination of talking
and listening skills to convey empathy for your client's problem or situation. During active
listening, a social worker should use mirroring techniques to paraphrase and reflect back to a
client what he or she has just said.

June, 2023