Video overview.
Introduction
I was allowed to practice social work skills by coming up with a role play video. My essay will consist of the overall reflection of my role play and assessment of a colleague’s role play video. I will address issues such as; ‘Explanation of insight gained from my experience,’ ‘challenges experienced while planning and executing my role play,’ ‘explanation of techniques in my role-play video and reason behind them. A will also have a concise depiction of my colleague’s video that I have selected.’ An analysis of what my colleague might have done well and justification of areas that need improvement.
MS Keyla is a patient suffering from an anxiety attack. Her situation is making it difficult to relax. From her experience, the case has worsened. She had experienced sharp headache, loss of appetite, feeling nausea after eating, lack of concentration, difficulty when breathing, and at one point, she fainted while trying to grasp breath. Previously, MS Keyla had visited a psychiatrist and was treated the same condition. She has now decided to seek medical assistance by visiting the healthcare facility. The role-play video documents the initial meeting between MS Keyla and the healthcare social worker.
Techniques used and experience gained in the role play video
The role-playing video purposed to demonstrate the interaction between the healthcare social worker and the client. It reflects the proper step of the Generalist Intervention Model (GIM) and social worker behaviors when based on client system concerns presentations. ( Waldenu.edu, 2016) GIM first two skills are engagement then assessment. The implementation of these two skills is displayed in this role-playing video. Engagement is portrayed by how the client and social worker established their relationship. Steps taken in the engagement process include the greetings, discussion of services offered and expectations of the client, decision whether the social worker will be of help, offering the appropriate services, and making client orientation in the helping process (Kirst & Hull, 2014). Assessment is the second step and focuses on problem definition, identification of contributing factors, and recognition of what should be done to eliminate or reduce the problem (Kirst & Hull, 2014). By completing my role, I gained experience on how to engage and complete client assessment. I learned to demonstrate attending skills such as maintaining eye contact and effective listening, taking short notes of important details to avoid forgetting, using silence where necessary, focusing on my client’s feelings and thoughts through asking open-ended questions.
The engagement technique I applied consists of discussing the services offered by the healthcare facility and what my client is expected to behave. I assured confidentiality of the information provided to encourage honesty. Any misleading information during engagement can lead to mistrust issues. Assessment technique was a paramount skill to any social worker, especially during analyzing the client problem and formulating the appropriate treatment plan.
Insights gained
Role-playing required me to assume a different role than what I could typically consider. The whole experience and preparations involved provided me with an insight into the complexity faced by the social workers. Recording and reviewing the play video enabled me to analyze how social workers can be perceived by their clients.
Generally, my video was successful in demonstrating empathy, compassion, concern, eye contact, assessment, and engagement skills. Reviewing my video gave me an insight that I might not have been so clear in my dealing with the client, especially in explaining how my client should take care to avoid the same condition happening her daughter.
Challenges experienced.
Planning and executing the video involved researching, compilation, training, video recording, and uploading. The main challenge I experienced was training my client in the video. The client was my colleague who had a tight schedule to adhere to, creating time to assist in my video was the main challenge. Taking the specific client’s roles under my script was a big issue to my colleague, I had to allow her to be herself and bring life in the script. Ultimately, she performed very well and channeled emotions and feelings of MS Keyla without my interventions. Formulating the specific questions to ask my client was also a challenge I encountered during my planning and execution of the role play video. I overcome this by ensuring that I am conversant with the situation affecting my client.
colleague’s role-play video overview
Ashley Dewolf’s play video interviewed a military guy suffering from PTSD. The client has been experiencing recurring symptoms for a while, and he noted that his condition has deviated his actions and is not as reasonable as expected. In engaging the client, the social worker assured the client confidentiality of the information provided. Specific questions concerning the client’s present condition are asked. The client opened up to the social worker, and this made it easier to identify the client’s specific situation.
Critique of the video.
Ashley Dewolf’s video was generally satisfactory. It clearly demonstrated client and social worker professional interaction. I depicted the engagement technique in the video, and this technique was exceptionally displayed well by the social worker practice. The open-ended questions applied in this video created room for a proper assessment to be carried out; they gave the client a chance to clearly explain his condition. However, I suggest the social worker should have shown more compassion and empathy in dealing with the client. She made consistent eye contact, but she conveyed little emotions. The social worker in this video allowed the client to open up, but I feel more could have been done to define the problem and come with the appropriate solution. According to the skit, the client suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, which is not strictly cured, but its symptoms can be resolved.
I would also recommend the client to be addressed by his name. Not addressing clients by their name can define as a sign of disrespect, this ties in the cross-cultural awareness. One of the intriguing aspects of working with or helping people is that one does not know what to expect. Clients can pose different situations and problems. It is the duty of the social worker to think and enhance cooperation with the client critically. The social worker should incorporate interviewing cross-cultural awareness, interviewing silence, untruth suspicion and confronting the client (Kirst-Ashman et al., 2015)
Conclusion
According to Social Change Working Group (2016), role-playing gives social workers the opportunity of developing instincts reqauired by analyzing how clients perceive them. Role-playing is also vital in assisting social workers in identifying their strong areas and weak areas that need improvement (Waldenu.edu, 2016). Through project completion, I had an opportunity to experience what social workers encounter when exploring Generalist Intervention Model steps. I learned of the specific skills required to be applied at each level.