ASSIGNMENT II: HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Instructions: Prepare a typed, written response to the questions. Information

from previous social work courses will be helpful in preparing

your responses. Please answer all questions completely and in

a professional manner.

1. Human Development

(Clearly identify the theories you use in your answers)

A. Identify the primary age groups of the clients you serve in your

agency. Using human development theory, explain the important

issues with which clients must cope across the life span.

B. What are the dominant family characteristics of the client groups

served by your agency? How might theses characteristics affect

the delivery of services?

C. What issues related to human biology need to be considered in

evaluating the problems presented by your clients? How do these

issues influence your interventions?

D. What are the primary psychological/sociological cultural and spiritual   characteristics of clients served by your agency? (Either functional or   dysfunctional). Do these characteristics affect services?

2. Human Diversity

A. What are the disadvantaged/oppressed groups are served by your agency?

(i.e. gender, race, ethnic, religious, or sexual preference groups). Give

an approximate breakdown of the groups by percentages.

B. What disadvantaged/oppressed groups are overrepresented or under-

represented in the clients served by your agency? Explain why.

C. Identify knowledge or skills related to human diversity that could be

helpful in working with these disadvantaged/oppressed groups. How

have you employed this knowledge in your internship?

D. How could Santa Maria Hostel be more sensitive to the needs of oppressed/

disadvantaged groups?

3. Systems Theory

Illustrate your answer with an actual client with which you have worked.

Omit information that would identify the client!!!!

A. Briefly define the presenting problem in terms of the person-in-

environment context. google a person on Heroin and find a interview of them about their life leading up to their drug addiction , (ie molestation, fosters homes, parents addicted to heroin).

   B.  Describe the: 

1. Client system – includes the client family members, friends, religious community.

2. Target system- is the client in need of help.

C. Explain how the knowledge of human behavior/human diversity was

used to develop and action system to target the presenting problems.

Assignment II Human Behavior (NOTES)

Primary age group 25-35

Human Development Theory -focus on the betterment of the lives of an individual’s mental wholeness overall homeostatic at Santa Maris Hostel the women are in program) that enhance their abilities, giving them tools that will help them develop fundamentally in life

**Case managers will assist in housing, and fitness and nutrition classes /Ged/ABE career development

Santa Maria is gender specific (Female) the dominating characteristic in most families at Santa maria is abuse, homelessness Psychiatric and Substance disorder, services available

Come Home Houston
 is a new program recently awarded through funding from SAMSHA to Baylor College of Medicine, with Santa Maria (SMH) serving as a sub-grantee. The award is for a 5 year period for nearly $2 million. The grant will be specifically targeted to serve underserved homeless individuals who are living with both substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. These services will be targeted in areas where there are high concentrations of women who need support; identified by data and designated by zip code. It appears that these identified areas share a common lack of access to available support services, creating conditions where women face steep barriers to self-sufficiency. These barriers include low levels of employment, poverty, poor educational backgrounds, prior criminal justice involvement and incarceration, trauma histories and lack of family support. In short, almost every barrier standing on its own restricts successful reentry after treatment. Combined, these barriers require intensive intervention to provide a better probability of lasting recovery.

Santa Maria has been selected as the site to provide services for these identified individuals. Primary treatment will include integrated substance use disorder and mental health treatment. The program expects to assist 60 participants a year to successfully gain housing. This will be achieved by support and individualized services related to recovery housing, health, life skills, vocational training and employment coaching. It will also include a strong enhancement of tobacco and vaping cessation services. The approach used will emphasize survivor empowerment and peer support. The program will also be tailored to be culturally responsive to the needs of black and Latina female substance users who experience homelessness at a disproportionate rate. All participants will have access to a level of recovery support that will assist them in reconstructing their lives Women are already being selected by our case managers and coaching staff who have deep roots in the communities targeted by these objectives. As they are admitted, they are assigned a recovery coach and a counselor. They also are welcomed to their new residence.

This grant ensures that the door will be kept open for disenfranchised women in our community to receive life- changing services.  We are grateful for our partnership at Baylor, the relationships with the team there and for the opportunity to empower women to lead healthy, successful, productive and self-fulfilling lives.

Need to align policy and practices with recommended best practices. It was clear through our interviews that sectors were not routinely reviewing and updating policy and practice guidelines to follow current research and recommended best practices. For example, the Bexar County and Harris County jails are taking postpartum women off MAT (medically assisted program), which does not follow current best practices and actually increases the risk that these new mothers will overdose after release from jail. Interviewees provided multiple accounts of needing to intervene in court proceedings in which a pregnant woman was ordered to stop MAT without the consent or 7 recommendation of her medical provider. Language and interpretation were also found to be causing a lack of compliance with best practices. In healthcare, there are multiple definitions and interpretations of the term “screening” particularly as it refers to drug screening. When obstetrician/gynecologists (Ob/Gyns) were asked if they were screening for drug use during pregnancy, they often thought the question referred to urine drug screening (testing) and not verbal, self-report questions using validated screening tools. This misunderstanding may be contributing to hesitation by providers to screen all patients as a part of standard prenatal care, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists (ACOG), and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).