Verified Document

How Social Workers Can Effect Change In Rural Communities Essay

¶ … Rural Social Service Disparities and Creative Social Work Solutions for Rural Families Across the Life Span." It is found in the Journal of Family Social Work, volume 16, issue 1 from the year 2013 and is written by Melinda Lewis, Diane Scott and Carol Calfee. This article examines the role that social services performs in rural regions and why its role in these areas has been "historically" something of a challenge for social workers (Lewis, Scott, Calfee, 2013, p. 101). A number of factors present themselves as barriers to social workers attempting to reach individuals or families in rural communities: some of these barriers are multicultural, religious, social, economic, and even political. Each of them represents itself as a bias towards outsiders, such as social workers, who appear to have a foreign agenda. This lack of understanding of what the social worker is about is a cause of fear, alarm and suspicion, and thus the social worker in a rural region has no foothold with which to engage the local communities in order to show his or her good intentions.

The authors do not lay the blame for these barriers at the feet of the rural community members. On the contrary, the article notes the strengths of the rural regions and identifies the fact that these regions are often strong and resilient, which is a good thing for social workers, because it shows that there is something vital and informational...

In this manner, the social worker can lose the outsider status and become more welcomed into the community. These partnerships can be formed with churches in the rural region, with schools, or with individual leaders within the community. The focus of the partnership can be to do something positive for the community, like take care of the homeless or provide a better delivery service for rural community members throughout the region. Developing such partnerships is important for the rural social worker because it shows that he or she is not just someone looking to foist outside views which may be "tainted" by "other" politics, economic factors, or religious/social differences. It shows that the worker is "one with" the community and its belief and social systems.
What I learned from this article is the value of adapting to meet the needs of the people and communities that you are trying to help. For example, in rural settings, the needs can be different from those in urban settings, just based on the type of community mentality. Rural communities, for example, may be distrustful of a social worker because its own family structure and system is its support and…

Sources used in this document:
References

Lewis, M., Scott, D., Calfee, C. (2013). Rural social service disparities and creative social work solutions for rural families across the life span. Journal of Family Social Work, 16(1): 101-115.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Community Development in Practice the
Words: 4061 Length: 12 Document Type: Case Study

The significant natural deposits in rural areas are water, wildlife, woodlands and the environment as a whole. Rural areas like Bulilima-mangwe in Matabeleland, Mutoko and Kariba have actually had effective ecological plans that have actually brought to life the Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) which has concentrated on the development of neighborhood organizations particularly in rural areas for the management and sustainable usage of communal wildlife

Rural Pennsylvania
Words: 1752 Length: 7 Document Type: Term Paper

Rural Pennsylvania According to the United States Census Bureau, Pennsylvania's population was estimated as 12,071,842 in 1995, ranking it fifth nationally, with 68.9% urbanized and 31.1% rural, and making it the 25th most urbanized state (Pennsylvania pp). Since 1980, the population growth pattern has been one of increases in the eastern border counties other, rather than Philadelphia and Delaware, in the southern tier counties west to Somerset, along the Susquehanna Valley,

Community Partnership the Notion That
Words: 4669 Length: 13 Document Type: Term Paper

, 1996): To train those college students who aim to join the teaching profession; To provide the teachers with a wide spectrum and grounds for exploration so that they can apply their knowledge and ability in a way that boosts the overall educational standards of the institution and the students; To design a schedule and academic profile that aims to purely heighten the academic and social growth of the students; and to support

Community Colleges in North Carolina
Words: 3751 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

(North Carolina Community College, system 2004, critical success factors) However, it must be mentioned that North Carolina is for the main part a public sector state, and it has a strong and a very well respected group of private Four-year colleges, and Community Colleges. While the four-year colleges in the state serve about 39% of all the undergraduates, the public Community Colleges serve about 43% of all students of the

Rural Healthcare Facilities Context of
Words: 5552 Length: 20 Document Type: Term Paper

Provide sustained technical assistance (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Evaluation of the process in rural and small communities includes: (1) scope of the project; (2) goals; (3) critical success factors; and (4) technical assistance." (Expert Panel Meeting: Health Information Technology: Meeting Summary, 2003) Community grants have been focused on the provision of 'personal digital assistant (PDA) systems in assisting with the decision support role. The initiative is

Effects of the Post World War II Occupation on Japan's Government...
Words: 3528 Length: 10 Document Type: Term Paper

War and Occupation: The Effects of the U.S. Occupation on Japan's Government and Politics The recent change in the American foreign policy direction which has seen the replacement of its traditional anti-colonialist tilt by the neo-conservative belief of guided nation building evokes a lot of interest in the history of United State's occupation of post world war II Japan. Although each such occupation is different -- the political, social and cultural

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now