Over many years, the collaboration of the fields of social work and mental health has given birth to the important field of Psychiatric Social Workers. Psychiatric social workers are society’s unsung heroes who work tirelessly to provide support to those grappling with severe mental illness and emotional distress. These professionals provide an enhanced quality of care for individuals and patients, bringing an empathetic and non-judgmental approach. They make a positive difference in their healing journey.
Psychiatric social work is a specialized branch of medical social work where empathy, expertise, and persistence come together to serve as a lifeline for many people in need and support for their mental health. In this article, we explore this specialized field of psychiatric social work, the important role it serves in today’s era, the challenges that come with this role, and the profound impact it has on the lives of many individuals.
What is Psychiatric Social Work?
The history of psychiatric social work spans several decades, in India. Back in 1946, the Bhore Committee Report (Banerjee, 1973) on Health Surveys and Development in India suggested that hospitals should appoint mandatory trained medical and social workers. This proposal was presented to the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and recommendations were made to explore the possibility of developing courses with such specialization. These courses would aim to train and educate social workers for these specific roles. In 1948, TISS assumed responsibility for training medical and psychiatric social workers.
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Taking this step was one of the first crucial actions to establish psychiatric social work as a profession.
Psychiatric social workers use knowledge from behavioural and social sciences to help people, organizations, groups, and communities at large. In other words, it’s a specialized form of social work, especially for those who are severely mentally ill and need intensive psychiatric care. A psychiatric social worker works in settings like mental hospitals, psychiatric hospitals in general hospitals, community clinics for mental health, rehabilitation centres, and deaddiction centres. They aim to support the clients and their situations by focusing on the client’s psychosocial well-being.
To put it simply, psychiatric social workers use the methods of social work to :
- Promote mental health
- Prevent and help individuals overcome mental health issues.
- Provide assessment of people’s psychosocial situation.
- Provide assistance and therapeutic support.
- Help with psychosocial rehabilitation.
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Social Workers
The Important Role of Psychiatric Social Workers
In psychiatric hospitals, they help patients cope with emotional and practical challenges, keeping in mind that hospitalization can be a period of extreme stress for the clients. It can be a period of feeling a loss of control, the financial burden on the family of the client, and disruption of routine functioning and this might lead to anxiety and depression.
Keeping these situations in mind, the role of a psychiatric social worker encompasses that of a counsellor, therapist, and even record keeper. The key functions of them include:
- Conducting a comprehensive assessment of the client’s social and environmental conditions. They take into account factors like the client’s home-work balance and even social life to identify factors that are causing maladjustment.
- Assisting the client and their families to accept the diagnosis and encourage cooperation. They make recommendations for mentally challenged or ill individuals and assist families in understanding environmental factors that could impact the client’s condition.
- Provide mental health education in prenatal and postnatal clinics and even nursery schools. The aim is to make the target audience aware of psychosocial well-being.
- Maintain a record of social works to gather social statistics.
Keeping these functions in mind, some of the vital roles of a psychiatric social worker are —
1. Case management
The psychiatric social worker takes care of the financial as well as medical needs of individuals/clients. This is especially the case for these individuals/clients when they are incapable or unable to manage matters like these, themselves. The task of case management also includes finding adequate housing, providing and making arrangements for medical care, and helping the individual/client to apply for welfare or disability care.
2. Social Integration
Psychiatric social workers aim to assist patients and clients in achieving the greatest level of independence, especially in their everyday functioning. They try to find appropriate housing and make special living arrangements like assisted living facilities. They also try to find potential employers for their clients. The clarification of the client’s situation is communicated to the employer. The end goal is to reintegrate them back into society as individuals capable of functioning independently.
3. Hospital Jobs
These professionals usually closely work with the hospital, especially the psychiatric department. Hospitals call upon psychiatric social workers to assess the situation when individuals are placed under their care. This might include a short counselling session or a significant amount of time to understand and find the details about the circumstances.
4. Work Within Prison and With the Government
A social worker is usually assigned to individuals in prisons or admitted to psychiatric facilities run by the government. Here, the primary focus is on rehabilitation. Sometimes, they are involved in legal trials to provide testimony, assess the mental state of patients, and write official reports.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the scope of psychiatric social work has expanded to cover various aspects of mental health and neurosciences. Psychiatric social workers have also been playing a vital role in disaster mental health programs. Psychiatric social work is a challenging and emotionally demanding field. These workers face many challenges. They might struggle to get the resources and support the client needs to fully address the issues at hand. Many are drawn to this work despite these challenges. It offers an opportunity to learn, overcome intellectual and professional obstacles, and make a real difference for vulnerable people.
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