The first job that involves individual or family therapy is a hospital social worker. In Georgia, a hospital social worker is typically paid from $49,000 to $70,000 per year. To qualify for this job, a candidate should, first of all, have comprehensive knowledge of diagnostics criteria, as well as the guidelines for client advocacy system operation. Additionally, the candidate must know a variety of individual and group therapy techniques, therapeutic models, and interventions. The hospital social worker will provide psychosocial support to individuals and families, especially from vulnerable population groups. This support will be addressed to cope with chronic, acute, and terminal illnesses and/or developmental disabilities. Moreover, the healthcare professional will educate and counsel patients, as well as refer them to other social services.
The second job is the social worker for Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT), which targets Veterans. An average salary for this job starts from $49,000 up to $60,00 in the state of Georgia. The requirements for this position are the following: at least a year of social work experience in a clinical setting, deep knowledge of different community resources, as well as of medical and mental health diagnoses. The candidate is also required to know the treatment procedures and guidelines, medications, and care interventions. A worker will address and treat individuals, families, and groups who experience various psycho-emotional, physical, or social issues. Additionally, the social worker will also have to consult other staff about the needs of patients and educate them on the impact of psychosocial issues.
The third job is as a social worker for the Veterans Health Administration. In Georgia, this job provides an average salary from $49,000 to $72,000 per year. The candidate’s qualifications are the same as for the PACT social worker. However, the job duties for this position are slightly broader. In addition to the responsibilities listed for the PACT workers, VA social workers also have to provide high-quality clinical services to the patients, as well as contact links to other appropriate community service providers.
In my opinion, any psychological problem and its solution are always associated with discomfort. The problem is distressing, but so is the solution because it requires change and confrontation with traumatic experiences. Thus, I think I can say that the therapy will work only if the person is ready to face these unpleasant experiences and relive them again. This issue can be decided on the scales: on one scale is the level of suffering from an unsolved problem, and on the other –from the process of solving. If the scale of suffering associated with the past outweighs, the person will not discuss this, and some of the problems will remain unresolved. If the scale with the current discomfort from not solving the problem outweighs it, then the person will go through all their trauma to relieve themselves from the burden.
Among the evidence-based theories social workers use in therapy are the social learning theory and psychosocial development theory. The social learning theory states that, by observing patterns of behavior from other people, a person forms an idea of how such behavior should be carried out. Next, they fix this information in memory and use it as a guide to action. Bandura, the author of this theory, called this process “modeling.” In therapy, observation learning works when behavior is first modeled and rehearsed mentally and then demonstrated openly and modified by the person’s corrective efforts and the feedback of the observers.
The psychosocial concept of personality development developed by the American psychologist Eric Erickson shows a close connection between the individual’s psyche and the nature of the society in which they live. Each stage of human development has its own inherent expectations of a given society, which a person may or may not justify, and the development of their personality may go in different directions. Knight (2017) states that “psychotherapy may be viewed as a series of searches and thus as a developmental stage resolution process” (p. 1047). Thus, the theory is widely used to assess a patient’s behavior and trace the connections between it and the traumas experienced in the past.
Reference
Knight, Z. G. (2017). A proposed model of psychodynamic psychotherapy linked to Erik Erikson’s eight stages of psychosocial development. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 24(5), 1047–1058. Web.