Client Reflection Report

This week’s reflection paper will focus on the relationship between social workers practice and clients/consumers/communities; planning, contracting and strategizing functions; intervention techniques using advocacy, brief work, case management, and group work; and evaluation.
From observing at UPMC Mercy detox unit, I am confident that a behavioral health social worker cannot effectively intervene nor assist a patient without some knowledge and interactions of policies on a mezzo, micro or macro. At our unit, to properly discharge a homeless patient, the social service team draws from business such as insurances and organization such as Allegheny County, Family links and external personals such as case managers. This knowledge to collaborate/integrate services from external and internal networks to meet patients’ diverse needs, is even more imperative in hospital settings. The daily increasing medical costs, unfortunately, ensures that patients are …show more content…
In addition to homelessness and a primary substance use disorder, each patient had chronic health conditions and at least one unmet health care need. These seven individuals were not always at an acute level of care, however; until recently their health needs were not seen as a priority or potently death cases, so in our health system, commonly preventive steps such as prenatal and infancy home visits, targeted short-term mental health therapy, brief counseling, and advice to reduce alcohol were not assessed or attempted. As one patient shared with me, preventative care, during his adolescent years would have been more effective, but his parents could not afford it, neither could his family insurance. I agreed with Kerson, preventive and managed care are lost in the development of integrated care. Especially in hospitals since most patients are in needs of the highest medical and social support. Conversely, hospital entities could