If we are not responsible for who we are. can welfare workers be of help? To begin with we need to look at life with a sociological imagination, this is an acquired skill that once mastered opens the mind to all types of correlations and influences that may have an impact on society. It may help to connect an individual’s personal problems to public issues and therefore have an impact on how the welfare worker would work with that individual. These correlations can be interpreted by various sociological theories and explain actions and states that may be necessary to recognise as a welfare worker. Using a hospital as a microcosm of society the different theoretical perspective in sociology can be looked at and used to explain where the welfare worker fits in and what issues they may encounter or need to take into account when working with the system.
Welfare work is about counselling clients, recognising the influences that may be affecting them, helping them to realise goals and or solutions and empowering them to take action. In the Hospital setting clients may be the children or families of the children. It is important to create rapport with your clients and maintain a professional manner and operate within frameworks of counselling. These can reassurance clients their needs are being dealt with in what may be times of stress.
When first dealing with clients you make an assessment, this assessment can begin to fill in many details, that although each client is individual it can tell many influences including but not restricted to, social status or standing, are they unemployed. What job do they do? Their age? How many children, attached or single? These questions among others create a picture of their place in society their class or status, which the client occupies. This information is one of the tools that the welfare worker uses to establish a picture of