Week 5 Client Recommendati
BSHS322
March 5, 2012
Kathleen Roberts

Week 5 Client Recommendation

Human Service Managers work with a variety of people with a variety of issues and problems. It is the job of the Human Service Manager to assist their clinicians if for some reason they are lacking the experience to deal with their clients. In this paper, we will be dealing with three different scenarios and it is the job of the Human Service Manager to help modify these situations for renovation. The approaches that will be utilized in the handling of these situations are reinforce, refer, and release. Reinforce is the first. This approach is used if and when a clinician is not secure enough in their ability in this particular area of their job. The clinician may only have to or need to go over example cases or they may require a mentor to help by giving them a broader view on this particular situation. Mentors are good in providing coaching and monitoring a clinician while also giving the clinician poise and assurance that is necessary to help the client. Refer is the next approach. The clinician may need to be referred for personal therapy by the human service manager. Personal therapy can and will help the clinician help the client throughout the clinician’s career in this field. The last approach is release and is considered to be the hardest. Release is when the human service manager has no choice but to let the clinician go. This could be a result of abuse of company policy, illegal activities, lack of improvement or after all other approaches have been executed.

Scenario One: Tom Martin

Tom Martin has been an employee of the agency for four years. Tom is an individual counselor for adult clients. During his four year employment with this agency, he has demonstrated mediocre counseling record. There have been a few questionable cancellations from four female clients. There were no reasons given for these cancellations and although they may have canceled for any number of reasons, this concerns the agency and does not sit well with them. A female client has recently informed a supervisor of misconduct on Mr. Martin’s behalf. The client reported that Mr. Martin has made remarks that have made her, the client uncomfortable. It was also brought to our attention that Mr. Martin has purchased this particular client with gifts and has had an out of office date. The female client also mentioned that Mr. Martin offered to help her regain custody of her children by doctoring her treatment report. Our agency has no tolerance for such activities with any of the clients. The female client has not made a formal complaint at this juncture in time but our agency will investigate this matter immediately. Mr. Martin will be interviewed. The agency feels that it is important that we present all findings to Mr. Martin in order to get him to recognize his unprofessional actions (Reamer, 2001). Mr. Martin has admitted having attraction to this particular female client and that he has purchased her gifts. It is common that when counseling a client on personal issues, a feeling of intimacy develops therefore, it is of vital importance to reiterate the client/clinician boundaries (Columbia University Press, 2001). As a professional, there is a way to handle this situation when it arises. Once Mr. Martin realized there was an attraction to this client, his next step should have been to get in touch with his supervisor to discuss it. The supervisor can then take the appropriate steps. The issue of doctoring files to show favor to the client is the next issue that needs to be addressed as this is a violation of the law and a violation of ethics. We will discuss the agency’s concerns and the evidence we have even though Mr. Martin denies the allegations.
After presenting all of the agency’s concerns, risks, facts and evidence to Mr. Martin, the agency will begin the process of releasing him. The process will be documented.

Scenario Two: Reinforce

Janice Wellington is an employee of our agency and has been with us for two years. Ms. Wellington is a child and family counselor and has shown good therapeutic skills with her clients. Records indicate that she is liked by her clients but her client logs leave something to be desired. The client logs received in the past have not been completed all the way nor submitted in a timely manner. The agency has a great deal of pride in being able to offer the clientele competent and knowledgeable staff members. Accurate documentation of a client’s secession is prudent so that accurate referrals of help can be offered to clients. Ms. Wellington will be required to review the agency’s policy on satisfactory and sufficient documentation of client secessions. Ms. Wellington has brought to the agency’s attention that she is not confident and knowledgeable in some aspects of the human service profession that she is exposed to. The agency understands that Ms. Wellington is still somewhat new to the human service profession and the agency so this is not uncommon. The agency feels that an open line of communication can be maintained with Ms. Wellington in order to discuss any areas of concern she may have and those previously stated. The agency can offer classes on proper client secession documentation if a lack of knowledge in this area is the reason for issue. If Ms. Wellington is not comfortable with a particular situation when it comes up in secession, we will discuss this also. The agency will also offer personal therapy as the next step to help her gain a better understanding on why certain situations make her feel unease. Personal therapy is not uncommon in this line of work and it helps the clinician to explore their own issues or aspects, hence providing sound counseling to the client. Ms. Wellington will examine her discomfort of working with families during these personal therapy secessions. In her line of work, it is crucial to converse with all family members to gain a better understanding of the issues the family is experiencing. The adults in the family play a vital role and only counseling the children will give only half the answer. The actions the agency will take with Ms. Wellington will be to reinforce the agency’s policy on proper documentation. The agency will refer Ms. Wellington to counseling to discuss her unease of certain topics and adult counseling. The agency feels that Ms. Wellington is a valuable part of the team and that these particular issues can be resolved easily. Ms. Wellington and her progress will be monitored during this time.

Scenario Three: Refer

Michael Thompson has been an employee of this agency for 16 years and has a good work record. The agency has a concern with Mr. Thompson’s absentees and the repetitiveness of these absences. The agency does offer health days, sick days and vacation days and all three have been used or exceeded. In our evaluation of Mr. Thompson, the agency will go over the policy of absenteeism and remind Mr. Thompson the significance of being at work and available to his clients. It is important to keep a structured program with the clients so that they know they are important and valued. Mr. Thompson has a history of drug abuse and is a recovering addict with 18 years of sobriety. A few of the staff members have voiced some concerns and suspicion that Mr. Thompson may be suffering a relapse. When speaking with Mr. Thompson, remaining careful not accuse him of a relapse is crucial but I will plan on conversing with him about his sobriety, how it is coming along and if he has any pressures or concerns that he would like to talk about. It is important that I get a feel of where he stands with it. Our agency does offer an Employee Assistance Program and Policy and Mr. Thompson will be reminded of this. Our agency supports our staff and care about their well-being as well as our clients, after all, what good is an agency if our counselors are not taken care of and supported. It was also brought to the agency’s attention that Mr. Thompson is under financial stress and he feels unable to relate to clients like he has in the past. This concerns the agency therefore we will refer him to a counselor because it is important that he examines any new concerns, feelings or misgivings he may have. The counseling is entirely up to Mr. Thompson to take advantage of but Mr. Thompson will be made aware that some form of corrective action needs to be taken. Mr. Thompson will be monitored throughout his counseling and this will be documented for our records that corrective action has been taken to correct the issues at hand.

Each of these three individuals was and are valued employees to our agency. Mr. Martin was released because he exhibited behavior that was unacceptable and damaging to our clients and to our agency. The job of the counselor is to help the client, not extort their situation or make them feel bad or uncomfortable. The agency cares and has concerns for Mr. Martin but he is a liability to our clients and our agency. Ms. Wellington is also a valued and shows so much potential. Ms. Wellington just needs reinforcement and we will work with her on her continued journey to grow as a counselor. The agency will monitor Ms. Wellington and we will meet periodically with her to discuss her journey. Mr. Thompson is a valued counselor as well with many years of experience. The agency feels that Mr. Thompson is a huge asset. He will be referred to counseling and to the agency’s Employee Assistance Program and Policy. It is important to Human Service Managers to work closely with counselors and address any issues before the issues turn into situations that will hurt the clients and/or agency (Kaiser, 1997). Routine evaluations with clinicians and staff will help with this not happening. Offering mentoring programs for new clinicians will help to ensure that each staff member is comfortable in their positions. It is also important to keep staff up-to-date on current changes in laws and practices.

References
Kaiser, T. (1997). «Supervisory relationships: Exploring the human element». Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (2011). «Interviewing in action in a multicultural world» (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Reamer, F., & Siegel, D. (2001). Tangled Relationships: Managing Boundary Issues in the Human Services. NY: Columbia University Press, (), 1-192.

Reamer, F. (2008). Social Workers' Management of Error: Ethical and Risk Management Issues. Alliance for Children and Families, 89(1), 1-9. doi:10.1606/1044-3894.3710