Discussion 1: Group Leadership Skills Leading a group of individuals who have suffered trauma can be difficult because the shared stories may result in further trauma to some of the members. Assessing the members and deciding how they will introduce themselves at the first meeting can be a difficult task. Helping these members begin the…

Discussion 2: Group Intervention When leading a group, it is the responsibility of the clinical social worker to find a way to enable all members to benefit from the experience. Although some members may not benefit, it is important for the clinical social worker to identify the positive aspects that he/she is witnessing. This strategy…

Assignment 1: Group Typology As a clinical social worker it is important to understand group typology in order to choose the appropriate group method for a specific population or problem. Each type of group has its own approach and purpose. Two of the more frequently used types of groups are task groups and intervention groups.…

Discussion 2: Becoming a Lifelong Advocate It is not enough to be compassionate. You must act. —Tenzin Gyatso As this course comes to a close, consider and reflect on how you can become a lifelong advocate for social change in your future social work practice. As a motivated policy advocate and social worker, your actions…

Project: Social Change Project: Final Report and Presentation Is social change ever easy? What barriers did you experience during your advocacy? What successes did you experience?   Over the past several weeks, you have analyzed a policy related to a social problem and have advocated for change. This week you submit your final report and…

Week 11: Assessing Policy: Toward Evidence-Based Policy Evidence-based policies are ones that achieve positive outcomes where they are evaluated with research. —Bruce S. Jansson, Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice, 8th ed. Social workers hope that a proposed policy will be effective and make a significant impact toward social change.…

Discussion 1: Policies and the Influence of Values Ideology, politics, and the influence of values often override evidence-based policy. When there is evaluation conflict, a policy advocate must be prepared to defend his/her reasons for wanting to implement a policy. Because almost all proposed policies are circumscribed by politics (for reasons brought up by Jansson…

Week 10: Troubleshooting Policies There are many factors that are starting points to policy implementation. This week you explore those factors. There are also many factors that lead to failure of policy implementation. You will examine those factors as well. According to Jansson (2010), policy implementation is a “critically important part of policy advocacy because…

Week 9: Political Strategy in Policy Advocacy Political strategies evolve as a result of a sequence of actions and verbal exchanges with policy makers and stakeholders. A social worker and policy advocate may find himself or herself in the role of political activist as well.   This week you examine how to use power resources…

Discussion: Policy Implementation Challenges Implementation never occurs in a vacuum. —Bruce S. Jansson, Becoming an Effective Policy Advocate: From Policy Practice to Social Justice (8th ed.) When a policy is launched, its success is dependent on a variety of stakeholders. As the politics of decision makers, executives, staff, clients, and social workers begin to influence…