Exploring Crisis and Systems Theories in Social Work Practice

Within this essay I will be examining two different theoretical models, concepts and methods in order to apply it to the case study as well as evaluating the possible strengths and challenges of both theories. Throughout this case study, I will be examining one family member from the case study. Each family member has a variety of problems occurring in their lives that need solutions and interventions in order to decrease the consequences and improve their lives by the assistance and support of a social worker. However, I will only be focusing on one of the family members. The two theories I have chosen to use throughout my essay are Crisis theory and its intervention then leading onto, The Systems theory with link to the ecological perspective.

Payne 2014:5 interprets theory to be “ a generalised set of ideas that describes and explains our knowledge of the world around us in an organised way”. In addition to this, social work theories then begin to explain human behaviour relationships and social issues as well as notifying the social worker of the type of approaches that may be best suitable for the individual they are dealing with.

Social workers are here today in order to help, protect and prevent vulnerable children and adults from harm and anything else which may restrict them from living a fulfilled life. This has a close similarity with Nkomo, Dube and Khosa (2018:959) who said that “it can be deduced that social workers are concerned with helping individuals achieve change, a certain quality of life and be protected from any harm”. Social workers are accountable for helping individuals, families, and groups of many people, to cope and manage with problems which they may be facing to improve their patients lives. In addition to this, family situations like the one demonstrated in the case study show and are a clear example of why we need social workers and the importance of their roles within today’s society. As well as this, social workers also have to value the dignity and worth of each individual person. We treat each client in a compassionate and respectful way that is mindful of individual differences, cultural norms and ethnic diversity. Social workers also have a value base when working with individuals yet, as social workers we also must be extremely mindful of these values as they can have a huge impact on them. “particular types of beliefs that people hold about what is regarded as worthy or valuable” (Banks 2008:29).

Moreover, the need of intervention is extremely important within social work and the arguments for social work intervention are most used in order to bring benefit to an individual, family or group. Parris (2012:173) states that “ intervention includes advocating on behalf of a service users or carers to ensure that their views are heard or that they receive the services they are entitled”. This supports my opinion that intervention is a huge necessity within social work due to the fact that they mainly take on the role of being the voice of an individual in order to ensure that all their views are listened to and that they are able to access the services they are eligible for it the best of their ability.

The first theory model I’ll be looking at is Crisis theory and its intervention in order to help Jenny through her situation and how we can try and overcome this. The main aim of the crisis intervention is to tackle the crisis with coping strategies to develop their level of managing, self- confidence and problem-solving. This will aid individuals to recognise their strengths, resources and coping methods for when they are faced with a crisis in the future. Teater et all (2010). When it comes to discussing crisis and it’s theory attached Jacobson, (1980) mentions that “no ideas are core as such of equilibrium, time and change. Equilibrium speaks of balance or adjustment affecting opposing or separate influences”. James (2008, p.3) lists several definitions of crisis, which are important when trying to understanding crisis theory. The core element in each of them is that an individual is overwhelmed. One of the definitions being from G. Caplan, (1961, p.18) contributing to the crisis theory stating the fact that “People are in a state of crisis when they face an obstacle to important life goals–an obstacle that is, for a time, insurmountable by the use of customary methods of problem solving. A period of disorganization ensues, a period of upset, during which many abortive attempts at a solution are made”.

During life, the majority of Individuals who suffer from a crisis are usually extremely impacted by these life experiences whether it happened recently or in the past. These life experiences can rarely be controlled and the event can be traumatic for the individual. Robert & Ottens, (2005:331) stated that “A crisis has been defined as the subjective reaction to a stressful life experience that compromises the individual’s stability and ability to cope or function”

When it comes to evaluating and assessing the behaviour of a specific individual, is as social workers need to keep in mind that there are multiple issues to take into consideration and Lawrence Brammer’s 1985 book “The Helping Relationship: Process and Skills” (as cited in Miller, 2011) identified all three types of crisis that make up his theory of applied crisis. These domains were developmental, situational and existential.

A developmental crisis is the result of a normal life event for example: like a pregnancy that can cause stress on an individual. (James, 2008, p. 13) Although developmental crises are extremely normal and typical, individuals may also need close monitoring in order to ensure that the individual is able to return back to their normal functioning.

Secondly, the next crisis in line is situational and is the most common kind of event when we consider crisis intervention. This is an event that is so overwhelming and sudden (Schottke, 2001, p.236) Many examples of this include: grief or loss of an individual, motor incidents or abuse from a young age or within an abusive relationship. Lastly is, existential crisis and these are based on larger concepts of a person’s purpose and attainment of self actualisation, a deep sense of personal fulfillment (Olson, 2013) Existential crises are often related to situations of regret or belief that life has passed them by (Price, 2011).

Crisis intervention is a method used in order to offer immediate, effective, short-term help to individuals who experience an event which causes emotional, mental, physical, and behavioral stress or issues. Two main purposes of the crisis intervention is to decrease the power of an individual’s mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral reactions. A seven stage intervention model was produced by Roberts (1991-2005) used by us social workers in order to deal with crisis intervention effectively for our clients.

During the first and second stage, I as a social worker would assess the risk and safety of the individual and other potential burdens, I would also be assessing jenny’s parenting capacity, whether she is stable and may be capable of causing harm to herself or others. Because she has been recently diagnosed with depression and drinking alcohol, I feel slightly concerned for the health and safety for her children as her partner also spends a lot of time away from home working. I also would begin to build a rapport and relationship with Jenny and her family in order to build trust and confidence so they are able to open up. Throughout the third and fourth stages, I would begin to figure out the main problems, including crisis precipitants and encourage an exploration of feelings and emotions. In order to do this I can encourage her to tell me about how she’s feeling and how she came to be involved within her crisis. Lastly are the fifth, sixth and seventh stages of intervention. During these last three stages I would be coming up with different ways in which I am able to help Jenny, these will be discussed and pros and cons would be made by myself and Jenny. This particular part can be a challenging stage, as Jenny at this point may not have a panoramic view of the crisis she is going through. The sixth stage being the action plan implementation stage, which is important in order for Jenny to be assisted in ways to much better handle the crisis. Lastly, is the seventh stage, where I would be evaluating how far Jenny is able to progress to.

Trevithick (2005:267) states that crisis intervention “can be adapted to practice in a number of different contexts, people who helped and supported to develop new adaptive ways of coping”

Crisis intervention mainly focuses on the improvement of a crisis situation and is also about focusing on helping our service users enhance their coping skills, self- confidence and because of this, crisis intervention can then be adapted by social workers and many other professionals. These are seen as huge strengths of crisis intervention.

On the other hand, one criticism of crisis intervention is that tends to pursue the ease of crisis. Payne (2005) uses the examples of oppression, discrimination and poverty. Within the case study this criticism is apparent that one of these factors was affecting the crisis, as Chris was suffering against oppression and abuse. Oppression played a huge factor, especially the fact that Jenny was unaware of the sexual and physical abuse towards Chris.

Another criticism is that crisis intervention can be challenging to implement as some individuals might be reluctant to having social work involvement (Teater 2010). In order for crisis intervention to work efficiently, my client will have to agree before I am able to begin start gathering all information needed. In relation to the case study, according to Jenny, she had no idea of the sexual and physical trauma to Chris and this can be considered as a form of neglect, as the youngest child who also has learning disabilities and development delay, he requires more attention and care.

“According to the biological theory, most organisms are part of a super system that is made up of subsystems. In essence all organisms are made systematically to engage with other systems whether internal or external” Payne (1997). Leading on from this, the second model which I will be looking into is the Systems Theory with its ecological perspectives intervention. Throughout this theory and intervention I will be using it in order to explain and describe Jenny’s condition. “A system Is a compound of interconnecting parts and that they are open to and interrelate with their surroundings” Von Bertalanffy (1968) This system theory was proposed by a biologist called Ludwig von Bertalanffy. According to Howe (2009) “family is a system and all individuals part of the system are the components that can impact another individual’s attitude and behaviour” This is an extremely important aspect for us as social workers as when working with families, we have to examine and work to reinforce all systems to which may give and contribute to the individual’s functioning and welfare.

Bronfenbrenner divided the systems theory into five different levels of systems and called this the ecological approach which aims to explain how the inherent qualities of children and their environments influence how they grow and develop. These were: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosytem, Macrosystem and Chronosystem and these were used in order for us social workers to clearly identify all influencing factors on an individual’s life in a holistic way. Microsystem is the first stage and this is the smallest and most immediate environment in which a child lives. As Jenny’s mother has recently passed away and she has no proper connection with her father, this is definitely having an impact on her and can also have an impact on her children also. Mesosystem is second, and this particularly is based on the interactions of the different microsystems which individuals find themselves in. This includes family and friends and home and school. In relation to my case study is it not clear that Jenny has any close relationships with peer or friend other than her sister Annie. Thirdly is Ecosystems, and this specific system does not tend to directly affect or influence an individual’s development yet it may play a slight part. An example of this could be parental income. Due to Jenny abusing alcohol and recently being diagnosed with depression, we can see that there may be a sign of neglect and distance between her and her children. For example, the sexual and physical abuse to Chris, yet Jenny claimes she has no idea of the abuse.

Macrosystem is the largest system which looks into the cultural patterns, beliefs and values which may significantly influence Jenny. Throughout the case study we can evidently see that Jenny’s cultural pattern is unstable due to the fact that she never really had a stable life. This specific cycle can then turn into a recurring pattern.Chronosystem is the system which talks about a child’s development and how this can also change dramatically over time. I can see within the case study that Jenny had a previous partner, before Jim and Jenny’s relationship with Jim has also started to deteriorate due to work and downfall over time. We can clearly see the impact this has had on Jenny’s development and the impact it has on her children.

In order to use systems theory, I as a social worker would use systemic practise as a form of intervention. Systemic practice is a way of working which emphasises individual’s relationships as a way of understanding their experiences life circumstances. As a social worker, we implement systemic practice by asking our service users a variety of different questions. These include: lineal, circular, strategic and reflective questions. Lineal questions are questions which are seen as investigative and in many cases can come across as judgmental. An example being, me asking Jenny did your own son Nick cause physical and sexual abuse towards Chris?

Circular is the second type and these are questions which may come across as exploratory and more unbiased. An example being, how does your relationship with Jim make you feel?. Thirdly are strategic questions, which recognises what is wrong and how to turn the situation into a positive instead of a negative. I could ask Jenny, how do you think you and Jim could rekindle your relationship? Lastly are reflective questions, these types of questions are intended to obtain thoughtful and personal responses. Service users can then give consideration to their own unique experiences and values. By looking into the future, I may ask Jenny where do you see yourself in the near future? Or how do you think you could improve yourself in the near future?

A genogram is a really useful tool in order to help us as social workers to understand the key people and relationships in our service users life. In addition to this, it can also help us to see patterns within those relationships and generational patterns which are affecting our clients dramatically. As (Wilson et all, 2011) states “a genogram is a pictorial tool which contains a drawing of a family tree describing the diverse relationships an individual may have” Within this genogram, we can briefly see that the relationships between all individuals with the family, Jenny and her sister Annie are very close, Jenny’s relationship with her father Tom is nonexistent and the relationship between Jenny and Jim is deteriorating. Due to the relationship that Nick and Jenny hold, we can see why Jenny may deny all knowledge of Nick’s potential sexual and physical abuse to Chris.

In conclusion, this essay has explored two distinct theoretical models, Crisis theory and Systems theory, and their interventions within the context of a case study focusing on Jenny and her family. By applying these models, we aimed to understand Jenny's situation comprehensively and evaluate the potential strengths and challenges of each approach.