Week One Discussion Board
My population of interest is within the military community. I am hoping to work with not only
military personnel who are returning from deployments and request assistance with transitioning
back to home life, but the families of those service members as well. Within the military
community there are newly married couples transitioning into the army life, there are families
with small children who need help adjusting to the constant moves and deployment or high
rotation schedules, there are wounded soldiers returning from battle who need help transitioning
back to the civilian life and finding the sources needed to prosper, and then there are those who
are veterans who need help navigating the resources available to them since they no longer have
the support of the Army as a whole.
There are many different professional roles that a social worker can assume while working
within this community. A social worker may help with financial services by becoming a broker
for finding financial assistance services for lower enlisted. They may help a solider or a wife
connect with state food assistance if they can not afford food, or a new mother may need help
adjusting at home while their husband is deployed. A social worker may do in home visits to
ensure her needs are met and offer community support by giving information on how to contact
WIC or hospital new mother support groups. A social worker may be called to assist in a case
with a soldier who has returned from a deployment and is exhibiting signs of depression and
PTSD. The social worker would assess the individual and create a plan to give the soldier the
assistance and treatment they may need to begin living a full life again.
I believe that the system theory would apply in general to any position within the military
community as there are so many different systems that work around the client. While there is the
family, or system, there is the subsystems within these families such as the parents and the
children. The boundaries can get blurred within the family if young children do not remember
the parents who have deployed or were gone for extended periods of time for training. The
interactions, input and output all affect the homeostasis of the family. These things have to be
considered when working with these families.
The Triple A approach would be the best approach in obtaining knowledge of the population.
You must ask if the family has noticed changes within the service member, or if there was any
major changes in their lives that may have affected their wellbeing. You must assess what the
information given to determine how to best help these families. For instance, if a young married
couple has suddenly developed financial difficulties they may request help finding financial
assistance to pay their bills through the Army Emergency Relief Program. After asking questions
it is determined that the husband has a gambling problem and their credit card debt has exceeded
their income and they cannot pay. Assessing the situation, one may determine that the husband
should meet with a group for those who are addicted to gambling. The couple also requires a
debt consolidation program to help manage their immediate debt issues. Finally asserting that
they need help, the social worker would need to give the program options and discuss their
option in her opinion.