Introduction
Social workers encounter clients from diverse backgrounds facing complex challenges. Utilizing case management skills across micro, mezzo, and macro levels empowers practitioners to support individuals within their environments compassionately. This essay will examine the situation of Jane, a single mother facing housing instability and inadequate access to mental health treatment while raising two young children. Analyzing Jane’s intersecting needs and strengths provides opportunities to implement multifaceted solutions grounded in social justice and human rights.
Problems And Injustice Issues Faced by The Client, Including Social, Economic, And Environmental Justice Issues
Social issues
Jane faces several social injustices and issues arising from intersecting identities as a woman, single mother, person of color, and poverty background. She is at risk for discrimination and difficulties accessing vital resources due to these factors. The isolation of caring for an infant and toddler alone while managing trauma and mental illness negatively impacts Jane’s well-being. The cultural stigma against Jane’s identities and circumstances contributes to further marginalization and limited social opportunities or capital. Her trauma history from an abusive relationship requires trauma-informed care and support, which she struggles to access due to structural and financial barriers.
Economic issues
As a high school dropout and single caregiver, Jane’s employment options are severely restricted. She only works part-time hourly at a minimum wage job with no benefits, paid time off, insurance, or upward mobility. This position leaves Jane with an annual income under $15,000, forcing her into deep poverty with the inability to afford necessities like housing, food, clothes, transportation, or healthcare for herself and her children. Jane lost Medicaid coverage and cannot afford out-of-pocket therapy and medication costs necessary to treat her mental illness. Her caregiving role compounds workforce participation struggles as Jane scrambles to arrange childcare. Without adequate income, savings, or supportive networks, she faces immense and destabilizing financial hardship.
Environmental justice issues
Home insecurity and impending homelessness present urgent environmental threats to Jane’s safety and well-being, as well as her daughters’. Substandard shelter conditions risk health problems due to overcrowding and lack of cleanliness or privacy. Entering the street homeless environment, should Jane fail to secure housing, introduces further dangers of violence, exploitation, or illness. Jane’s access to transportation is limited by rising community costs of living, negatively impacting her consistent attendance at work, care appointments, or vital service organizations. Without supportive policy interventions, Jane will likely join the masses of impoverished families unable to obtain affordable, sustainable housing or healthy communities. This reflects injustice within the systems controlling vital environmental resources.
Micro, Mezzo, And Macro Practice Skills That Can Be Applied When Working With This Client
Micro social work skills to employ with Jane include strengths-based assessment, supportive counseling, resource referral, and advocacy regarding public benefits access. Building rapport and trust enables the creation of mutually agreed upon treatment goals centering on Jane’s self-identified needs. Providing validation and psychoeducation normalizes Jane’s trauma response while assessing the risks of self-harm, suicide, or harm to her children (Levitt et al., 2018). Referring Jane to housing supports like rapid rehousing programs and domestic violence shelters can link her with transitional assistance. Helping Jane reapply for Medicaid and Food Stamps furthers health and food security.
Mezzo-level social work practice involves assessing Jane’s natural support networks and surrounding community. Facilitating connections with other single mothers at the shelter encourages mutual aid and combatting isolation. Partnering with Jane’s employer to negotiate increased hours/pay or onsite childcare boosts stability. Collaborating with Jane’s daughters’ school to enroll them in early childhood special education screening provides developmental support. Advocating for improved public transit access in Jane’s neighborhood promotes connectivity to vital resources.
Macro practice entails analyzing systemic barriers Jane faces while developing structural solutions through policy change and activism. Influencing city officials to increase affordable housing investments and landlords to implement eviction moratoriums promotes housing justice (Miller et al., 2022). Campaigning for raising the minimum wage to a livable income relieves working poverty for millions like Jane. Lobbying state health departments to expand Medicaid eligibility ensures healthcare coverage for impoverished adults and children. Participating in protests demanding comprehensive paid family leave policies would enable Jane to care for her children’s needs without risking destitution. Undertaking anti-oppressive macro interventions requires collective action across government, communities, and society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, applying an ecological framework across micro, mezzo, and macro practice levels allows social workers to empower clients to navigate intersections of marginalization holistically. Jane’s situation encompasses inadequate housing, healthcare, childcare, and income stemming from structural oppression targeting poor single mothers of color. However, Jane possesses abundant resilience in nurturing her daughters despite adversities. Social workers must humanize and partner with Jane in accessing every benefit and support entitled through compassionate, culturally-informed case management. Concurrently, the social work profession bears the responsibility to dismantle barriers manifest through unjust policies, resource deprivation, and cultural stigma permeating the lives of millions sharing Jane’s struggles. Through micro compassion, mezzo community-building, and macro activism, social workers can promote human rights and social justice at the heart of our vocation.
References
Levitt, H. M., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J. W., Frost, D. M., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for qualitative primary, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board task force report. American Psychologist, 73(1), 26.
Miller, R. J., Hill, C. E., Kniep, L. M., & Das, R. (2022). Advocacy for the advancement of lower socioeconomic status clients: Review and recommendations. Journal of Counseling & Development, 100(4), 435-446.
Murphy, Y., Hunt, V., Zajicek, A. M., Norris, A. N., & Hamilton, L. (2009). Incorporating intersectionality in social work practice, research, policy, and education. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
Santiago, C. D., Kaltman, S., & Miranda, J. (2013). Poverty and mental health: How do low‐income adults and children fare in psychotherapy? Journal of Clinical Psychology, 69(2), 115-126.
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