Working with Individuals to Resolve Life’s Problems

Abstract

Many social workers work with individuals to assist them in addressing life’s challenges. These challenges are diverse and may include coping with life transitions, personal crises or managing life in the face of a chronic condition, such as an illness. In this chapter, I consider interpersonal work with individuals who are not mandated to receive casework assistance. The specific methods of interpersonal work I focus on in this chapter are social casework and counselling. Social workers deploy these methods in a range of contexts including with individuals who voluntarily seek professional help to manage a life problem, such as dealing with grief and loss. Service users may also receive social casework or counselling services as part of a suite of services offered by a multidisciplinary team in a health and welfare service context. In this chapter, I define social casework and contrast it with other forms of interpersonal practice in which social workers and other helping professionals engage. I consider the history of social casework and key debates about casework as a method of social work practice. I then outline and discuss the implementation of social casework and counselling methods.