Ellen Perrault

Kubler-Ross
The Social
Work
profession
has many
perspectives
Broad Frameworks for Social Work
•Systems and Ecological Perspectives
•Problem-Solving Approach
•Strengths Perspective
•Feminist Approach
•Structural Approach
o Ecosystems

o Strengths

o Problem-solving

o Feminist

o Structural
Systems and Ecological Perspectives
Urie Bronfenbrenner. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments
by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
What we create has value only if others find
meaning in us. We may be intently focused on
our self and the life we are making for
ourselves. We may believe we can succeed in
isolation. But if our system rejects the self we
have created, we are truly valueless. A self that
fails to create itself as a contribution to others is
irrelevant in a system-seeking world.

Meg Wheatly - A Simpler Way

Problem-Solving
Approach
 Preliminary statement of the problem
 Statement of preliminary assumptions
about the nature of the problem
 Selection and collection of information
 Analysis of information available
 Development of a plan
 Implementation of the plan
 Evaluation of the plan
Johnson, L., McClelland, R., & Austin, C. (2000). Social
work practice: A generalist approach. Scarborough:
Prentice Hall . p. 63.
Problem
solving
process
with a
client
Strengths Perspective
Uses client’s own resources to help them to:
 grow as human beings
 improve their quality of life
 develop their own problem-solving skills
 deal with their stress and adversity

Heinonen, T., & Spearman, L. (2010). Social work

practice: Problem solving and beyond (3rd ed.).
Toronto, ON: Nelson.
What strengths and resources
does the client bring?
Counselling questions:
10 steps:
1- Creating a working alliance
2- Identifying strengths
3- Assessing presenting problem(s)
4- Encouraging and instilling hope
5- Framing solutions
6- Building strength and competence
7- Empowering
8- Changing
9- Building resilience
10- Evaluating and terminating (Smith, 2006)
Smith, E. (2006). The strengths-based counseling model.
The Counseling Psychologist, 34(1), 13-79. DOI: 10.117.
7/0011000005277018
Feminist Approach
Ensures the effects of societal
beliefs and stereotypes
concerning gender and sex
roles are addressed

Sheafor, B., & Horejsi, C. (2003).

Techniques and guidelines for
social work practice. Boston,
MA: Allyn and Bacon.
 ‘liberal feminism’,
‘radical feminism’,
‘socialist feminism’,
‘feminisms of black/Indigenous/women of colour’,
‘poststructuralist feminism’,
‘French feminisms’
‘queer feminism’

Russell, S., & Carey, M. (2003).

“Feminism is my primary lens for analysing
differences of power in the world. For some
women, the primary lens through which they see
the world, their primary form of analysis about
differences in power, is a lens of culture, of race.
For other women, their primary lens might be
sexuality and sexual difference. For me, though,
the first thing that I notice is gender. Feminism is
the lens which I then try to use to understand other
relations of power and my responsibilities in
relation to them.”
Russell, S., & Carey, M. (2003).
Effects of Feminism

• Woman are in the workforce with equal pay

• Language to describe domestic violence
• Women’s bodies are described by women
• Childbirth and abortion redefined
• Changes to psychotherapy
Russell, S., & Carey, M. (2003).
The personal is the political
Structural
Approach
Challenges the assumptions that
 everyone is treated equally within
systems
 society provides an adequate safety net
“Social work is not only about patching up crisis,
but also about prevention”
(Carniol, 2000, p. 21).
“Most (but not all) structural oppression today in
most Western democracies is covert. Covert
oppression at the structural level is a powerful
force in maintaining class-based
hierarchies…Structural oppression affects all
major areas of a person’s life, employment,
housing, health, education, financial
opportunities, and treatment ….”

 Mullaly, R. (2002). p. 113-114.

 The Physical
Profession environment
Power & Practice
Social justice processes
Organizations
Social
Problems Practice
Purpose, values, approaches
ethics
Practice
event
Dimensions
Sources of
of diversity
information

Culture Case Funders

specifics System
knowledge

Natural networks Social Institutions

Contexts of Practice
Social workers that place “all the
blame for maladjustment upon the
individual and none on the social
order must in the end become
servile to those whose interests are
vested in that social order”
(Lindemann, 1924)
 Advocate

 Enabler

 Educator
 The accepted principles in
many fields, presented as
objective reality, are stories
perpetuated to maintain
power structures and
marginalize alternative
voices.
From Nichols & Schwartz (2001) p. 310
Active use of resources
Collective action
 An awareness of the limits of patriarchal, liberal capitalism as
a satisfactory social system
 An awareness of an alternative vision of society where
human need is the central value
 An awareness that social work is a political activity that
either reinforces or opposes the status quo
 An awareness that social problems are not amenable to
individual, family, or sub-cultural solutions
 An awareness that critical social analysis by itself is an
important social work skill
As outlined in: Mullaly (1994). Structural social work. Toronto, ON:
McClelland and Stewart.
Problems that are impossible to
solve with one paradigm may
be easily solved with a
different one. Joel Barker
 Your Theories to
Practice Choose from
o Ecosystems

o Strengths

o Problem-solving

o Feminist

o Structural
“there is no one theory that helps us to
understand the entirety of the broad
range of societal situations, issues,
personal reactions, and problems
encountered by today’s
practitioners”

Turner. F. (2002). Social work practice: A Canadian

perspective. (p. 46)
You are a social worker in a hospital, asked to
intervene with a unit experiencing a loud disruptive
family. How would each of the following
frameworks assist you in determining your course of
action?

•Systems Perspective
•Problem-Solving Approach
•Strengths Perspective
•Feminist Approach
•Structural Approach
•Systems Perspective
•Problem-Solving Approach
•Strengths Perspective
•Feminist Approach
•Structural Approach
Uses client’s own resources to help them to:
 grow as human beings
 improve their quality of life
 develop their own problem-solving skills
 deal with their stress and adversity
•Systems Perspective
•Problem-Solving Approach
•Strengths Perspective
•Feminist Approach
•Structural Approach
Ensures the effects of societal beliefs and
stereotypes concerning gender and sex Equal
roles are addressed relationships
are promoted

•Systems Perspective
•Problem-Solving Approach
•Strengths Perspective
•Feminist Approach
•Structural Approach
•Systems Perspective
•Problem-Solving Approach
•Strengths Perspective
•Feminist Approach
•Structural Approach

The Physical
Profession environment
Practice
Power &
Social justice processes
Organizations
Social
Problems Practice
Purpose, values,
Practice approaches
ethics
event
Dimensions
Sources of
of diversity
information

Culture Case Funders

specifics System
knowledge

Natural networks Social Institutions

Contexts of Practice
 Your
agency

You Client
Heinonen, T., & Spearman, L. (2010). Social work
practice: Problem solving and beyond (3rd ed.).
Toronto, ON: Nelson.
Payne, M. (2005). Modern social work theory (3rd ed.).
Chicago, IL: Blackstone.
What perspectives, theories, models do you see
yourself drawing from?
 Your experience
 Your values and personal
philosophy
 Your training

 Your personal life experience

Norcross and Prochaska (1983)

Taking your current experience and
knowledge, how would you now
describe your own Practice
Framework?
What perspectives, theories, models
do you see yourself drawing from?
Which ones do you want to learn
more about in the near future?
 Focal system
 Problem/
Issue
 Environment/
Context
Our next lecture continues the expansion of
Hick’s Chapter 4

Please contact me if you have any comments or

questions!

Ellen Perrault
403-220-6029
perrault@ucalgary.ca
Heinonen, T., & Spearman, L. (2010). Social work practice:
Problem solving and beyond (3rd ed.). Toronto, ON:
Nelson.
DuBois, B., Miley, K., & O’Melia, M. (2007). Generalist
social work practice: An empowering approach
(5th ed.). Toronto, ON: Pearson Education.

Click here for Wayne Hammond's

Summary and Strengths
Perspective Principles
Carniol, B. (1987). Case critical: The dilemma of social work in Canada. Toronto, ON:
Between the Lines.

Fook, J. (1993). Radical casework: A theory of practice. London, UK: Sage.

Heinonen, T., & Spearman, L. (2001). Social work practice: Problem solving and
beyond. Toronto, ON: Irwin.

Mullaly, R. (2002). Challenging oppression: A critical social work approach.

Toronto, ON: University Oxford Press.

Mullaly, R. (1997). Structural Social work: ideology, theory and practice. Toronto, ON:
Oxford University Press.

Moreau, M. J. (1989). A structural approach to social work practice. Canadian

Journal of Social Work Education, 5(5), 78-94.
Feminist Perspectives, Chapter 12 from Payne, M. (2005).
Modern social work theory. Chicago, IL: Lyceum.
Russell, S., & Carey, M. (2003). Feminism, therapy and
narrative ideas: Exploring some not so commonly
asked questions. International Journal of Narrative
Therapy and Community Work, volume 2.
Stanford Approaches to Feminism
Feminist Theory: An Overview - Elixabeth Lee - The
Victorian Web