Strengths Perspective Theory in Social Work: 1980s Origins - Essay Sample

Introduction

Strengths perspective theory is a recent development in the social work field. The main reason for the use of strengths perspective theory in the area of the social work practice started in the 1980s from the University of Kansas in the school of social welfare. Scholars like Weick, Rapp, Sullivan, and Kishardt in 1989 gave the approach the term strengths perspective to help the practitioners recognize the authority and what the client possesses in regards to their life history ((Mirick, 2016). The approach was started to deal directly with the problems that were faced in the social work practice by applying the traditional methods that are opposed to the mental health system that focusses on diagnosis and deficit. Strengths perspective theory was implemented to move to other areas of social work and to help all the professionals. The approach has been used in different contexts such as schools, industries, both private and public sectors across the world. It has also been used with a wide range of clients like children, adolescents, couples, and families.

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The significant assumptions about the strengths perspective theory are: human beings are recognized as having varieties of strengths and capabilities that help them continue to learn, grow, and change each day. All people have the abilities and advantages that they use to survive in their environment. The only focus of change for those whom we work with relies on their strengths and aspirations. In case we want to change those whom we work with, then we have to focus on their strengths and desires that motivate them (Solis & Callanan, 2018). The theory assumes that our communities and the social environment where we stay are full of resources that we can utilize to help us find solutions to our problems. The approach believes that our environment has got enough resources that we use to settle our issues.

The theory assumes that all the service providers from different collaborate with the people they work with; for quality services delivery, all the service providers must collaborate. All the interventions from the theory are based on self-determination, for the response to work on the client then it is based on the client's self-determination (Sawyer & Coles, 2020). There is always a commitment to empowerment; for an individual to be empowered, they must have to dedicate their time and resources to achieve the empowerment. Problems were experience is seen as our interactions with people from different sectors we meet, like individuals, organizations, and structures and not seen as deficit from organizations, individuals, and structures.

The key concepts about the theory are resilience, and it is the possibility of human beings able to survive regardless of the risk factors and the problems they are undergoing. Empowerment, the theory believes in service delivery and not on diagnostic categories from its participants (Niemiec, 2019). Hope is another critical concept that means perceived capabilities that lead one to the set goals, the reality that we construct in our daily lives through communication with others. Partnership the ability to have the control over once life, and the last concept is the ecological approach, it consists of the social support networks, and finding and analyzing all the formal and informal social support that may be necessary for an individual, family, group and the community.

The approach can be used in the cooperate world by the human resources managers to conduct the performance appraisal to workers that will benefit the employees, supervisors, and the workflow of the company. The appraisal is used to improve the performance, communication in the organization, and decision making. The health care professionals are always ready to help their clients identify their strengths and resources when they are experiencing difficult situations in their lives. It is the responsibility of the healthcare professionals' workers to listen carefully to their clients and help them identify their strengths and resources when they are undergoing a difficult situation in their life.

For those clients who are attending to their support and appointment, it should be acknowledged as a strength because it is a big task. For example, in case you are helping a client who is not having secure and safe housing, then it is good to empower the client to build a strong relationship with the family members and friends (Mirick, 2016). Empower the client also to use the resources available, their resilience, and strengths to challenge the situation they are undergoing. The approach can also be used in counseling as a way to introduce positive therapy where the approach will only focus on the internal strengths and the resourcefulness but not the weaknesses of the client.

The main strengths of the approach are that it helps the clients in building their strengths by seeing them as resourceful people and much resilient in case they are experiencing a difficult situation. The approach is based on the strengths of clients and to empower them when going through difficulty in life. It is led by the client and rooted in outcomes of the future based on an individual set of strengths.

The weaknesses of the approach are: the approach may be difficult to use in children because their strengths are not yet identified fully since they are still developing (Bowen, 2019). The approach results to work cultures where people only put more effort into their strengths to be active and ignores areas where they have fewer strengths that result in abdication responsibilities to non-strength areas. People will always avoid performance problems and fatal flaws that interfere with once performance and career. One will fail to achieve the full potential because of the fewer efforts put in non-strengths areas.

References

Bowen, E., Walker, K., & Holdsworth, E. (2019). Applying a strengths-based psychoeducational model of rehabilitation to the treatment of intimate partner violence: program theory and logic model. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 63(3), 500-517.

Mirick, R. G. (2016). Teaching a strengths perspective in child protection work. Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 21(1), 13-22.

Niemiec, R. M. (2019). Six functions of character strengths for thriving at times of adversity and opportunity: A theoretical perspective. Applied Research in Quality of Life, 1-22.

Sawyer, J. M., & Coles, D. (2020). Strengths Perspective in Critical Macro Practice: Tentative Guidance for Transformative Strengths-Based Policy, Organizational, and Community Practice. The University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare.

Solis, G., & Callanan, M. (2018). LISTENING FOR STRENGTHS IN DIVERSE FAMILIES'CONVERSATIONS ABOUT SCIENCE. Promising Practices for Engaging Families in STEM Learning, 35.