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  • [MUSIC PLAYING]

  • Welcome.

  • This video will address the spectrum of social work

  • practice, from micro social work, which

  • is working with individuals, to mezzo social work,

  • working with families or working with small groups,

  • to macro social work, the actual focus of this course,

  • working with agencies, organizations, communities,

  • and large groups of people.

  • To begin, a competent social worker

  • needs to understand the entire spectrum of social work

  • activity to be effective in any one segment of social work

  • practice.

  • That is, social workers need to understand

  • the interconnectedness of micro social work, mezzo social work,

  • and macro social work.

  • In actual practice, most social workers

  • find themselves working across the spectrum of the field,

  • without being confined just to one aspect of social work

  • activity.

  • Just let's take a look at an example.

  • Assume that you are a school social worker.

  • You've been assigned to provide counseling services

  • to a third-grader in the school.

  • Now, this would be an excellent example of micro social work

  • practice.

  • It's counseling.

  • In this case, the child was referred to you by the teacher.

  • The presenting problems include a sullen and uncooperative

  • attitude, fighting with peers on the playground, failing grades.

  • You review the child's records and you determine

  • that he was a good student last year,

  • and the problems presenting now appear to be new.

  • After meeting with the child, you

  • conclude that he seems to be reacting to something going on

  • in the home.

  • So you arrange a meeting with the parents

  • to determine what's going on at home,

  • an excellent example of mezzo social work practice,

  • with families.

  • The parents appear to be loving, caring people who are concerned

  • about their child.

  • However, they acknowledge that they're

  • under a great deal of stress.

  • Father recently lost his job.

  • Unemployment benefits plus income

  • from Mother's part-time job is insufficient to meet

  • the family of five's needs.

  • They're falling behind in the rent.

  • They're struggling economically.

  • The price of gas is making it difficult for Father

  • to get around to look for work.

  • They fear becoming homeless.

  • You attempt to make referrals for the father

  • to sources of employment.

  • Again, now we've shifted back to micro social work

  • services, case management.

  • What you find is that the entire community

  • in which your clients live has been hit hard

  • by the recent economic recession.

  • Job training and placement agencies

  • are not taking new applications, because there are no jobs.

  • You check with city resources and you

  • find that the bad news is that funding

  • for local transportation services

  • has been cut, reducing the number of buses and trains

  • available to community residents.

  • Low-income housing is a top priority for the city,

  • but at this time, thousands of persons

  • are living on the street, with no real solution

  • to this issue on the horizon.

  • Job resources are meager, and those that are available

  • include educational and experience requirements

  • that are well above those of the family you're working with.

  • While working on this case, you learn on the news

  • that the state is having a budget problem

  • and will be cutting basic funding that

  • supports local transportation, medical care, and job

  • development for low-income families.

  • This reduction in funding will result in fewer dollars

  • to the city, which will in turn impact

  • the resources available in the local communities.

  • The target of most of the cuts is low-income and poor people

  • within the state.

  • You respond to a call from the NASW state chapter

  • to petition your state to avoid the harsh cuts for the poor

  • that are being debated in the state legislature.

  • Now we're looking at macro social work.

  • This is advocacy for clientele.

  • You know from the daily news that the national economy

  • is struggling to recover from a severe recession,

  • resulting in reorganization and redistribution

  • of federal resources that will reduce support to the states

  • in providing services to low-income

  • and working poor families.

  • Homelessness and hunger, identified national concerns

  • which are the threats to the child in your school,

  • is not being addressed with sufficient strength

  • to meet the national need.

  • Proposed legislation that would begin to address the problem

  • is unlikely to pass because of the cost involved.

  • You write to your two US senators, urging passage

  • of legislation that will assist the members of your community

  • struggling to find work and to locate reasonable housing.

  • Again, an example of macro social work-- advocacy.

  • From local and national news and information

  • from your local professional organization,

  • you know that one of the issues resulting in unemployment

  • of the father of your client is outsourcing

  • of jobs in the United States to other countries.

  • The global economy, as it has emerged over the past 20 years,

  • is stripping the country of the range of jobs, particularly

  • those at the low end of the job market, that were at one time

  • available within local communities.

  • And there appear to be few employment replacement

  • opportunities being developed.

  • Social workers involved in policy development--

  • an example of social work macro practice--

  • are needed to address basic issues of employment that

  • affect the country all the way down to the community, family,

  • and child level, as demonstrated by the child

  • with whom you're working in your school.

  • Regardless of their focus of practice along the social work

  • spectrum, effective social workers

  • understand that the interconnectedness

  • of micro to macro social work forms the heart of social work

  • practice.

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