Early one bright, sunny morning I excitedly arrived to my internship at UnityPoint Health St. Luke’s in Sioux City to discover that a young girl had attempted suicide the night before. After telling her mom she wanted to die during an argument, 17 year old Sally* took a container of Benadryl out of the medicine cabinet, locked the bathroom door, and proceeded to swallow whatever pills where in the bottle. Luckily, she made it to the hospital in time to make a full physical recovery, but it was obvious that there were mental health issues that needed to be addressed. From the original report, it appeared as a simple enough case, a patient attempting suicide in the mental health field is not all that uncommon. However, an interview with the client …show more content…
It becomes especially tricky when it involves a client under the age of 18, particularly when there is risk of punishment. A social worker does not want to betray a child’s trust, but they also want to ensure their safety. The Code says, “Social workers may limit clients’ right to self-determination when, in the social workers’ professional judgment, clients’ actions or potential actions pose a serious, foreseeable, and imminent risk to themselves or others.” In this situation, it was difficult to tell whether or not Sally was a risk or not. To decide the best actions to take, the social worker I followed discussed the situation with the client, with the psychiatrist on the behavioral health ward, the pediatric social worker, the pediatric nurse that involved with Sally’s care, and even me. During further discussion with the client, my internship supervisor asked Sally if she had thought about suicide before. She said she had because she did not feel like living in her house anymore, not so much that she wanted to die. Additionally, to scare her parents, she looked up what medications she could take a lot of and still survive. She discovered through research that Benadryl was beneficial for this purpose. Therefore, her plan had been thought out, but she proved that she did not have a desire to die. With this knowledge, the social worker was able to make an ultimate treatment
Cunningham, M. (2012). Integrating Spirituality in Clinical Social Work Practice: Walking the Labyrinth (1 ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
While taking data, I have worked with this child to increase behaviors with reinforcement, teach new skills, and to reduce interfering behaviors, which can include self-injury. During the past year, I completed an online suicide talk session, which explores suicide prevention as well as becoming a Certified Mental Health First Aider. I also became a suicide and crisis line volunteer, giving emotional support for individuals experiencing emotional or situational distress, various forms of mental illness and in need of general information or referrals. The callers varied from transgender individuals to youth to other ethnic minority groups. I learned to not minimize grief or experiences because everyone is entitled to their feelings and every individual grieves and experiences trauma in various
There is an escalating problem that is becoming more prominent among adolescent society involving the use of anti-depressant medication and its increased risk of suicidal tendencies. Studies show that more Americans are turning to antidepressants and are not informed of the irreversible dangers that are associated with taking them. Antidepressants possess a variety of different side effects just like other medications, however, there is a growing concern regarding the increasing rate of suicides among adolescent teens. Especially in today’s society, there is an alarming increase in influences that the media places upon the younger generations living in America. Antidepressant use in this age group should include high monitoring of suicidal thoughts and tendencies, and should include an increased effort to raising awareness of this issue.
When dealing with an ethical dilemma, social workers usually reference back to Reamers 7-step process to help with ethical decision-making. In the given case study, we meet Lori a bright fourteen-year-old who is smart, involved in school activities, and sports. She has had a non-normative impacted life since she was young, such as her mother dying of breast cancer and father dying as well. She has no immediate family and was lucky enough to be placed in a foster home with a family who loves her and wants the best for her.
Social workers deal with intense situations daily. It is important that social workers are aware of how they are affected by these interactions. Priscilla Dass-Brailsford explains in her book, that countertransference, vicarious trauma (VT), secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and satisfaction, and burnout are all different ways that counselors can be affected (Dass-Brailsford, 2007). This is where it is important for social workers to have a plan of self-care and stress management resources to use.
Although suicide or attempted suicide is legal in every state, assisting in a suicide is considered illegal in every state except Oregon. Additionally, the Code of Medical Ethics section 2.211 declares that physician assisted suicide is "fundamentally incompatible with the physician's role as healer, would be difficult or impossible to control, and would pose serious societal risks." There are too many risks associated with physician assisted suicide that managing such a factor would be impossible to control. Even the best medical professionals are human beings with the potential for error. An undiagnosed or untreated mental illness can add to a patients desire to die, which in the case of ph...
There have been many instances of suicide that have occurred in the past years at universities across the country, and since it is such a sensitive subject, there have not been nearly enough coverage as this topic deserves, considering this issue does not seem to be going away. When collecting data about suicide statistics, the age range is broken down as people ages 15-24, which spans most developmental years. Within this bracket are college-age students and this age-group has by far the most troubling statistics around it.
One reason physician assisted suicide should not be legalized is that the suicidal person often has a mental disorder and therefore experiences distorted judgments. Most, if not all, of suicidal people suffer from depression (Harned 514). Victims of depression experience extreme emotional hardships and this, as a result, alters simple cognition and leads to self-blame which ultimately has a negative effect on ones self-esteem (Balc...
The client main concern was that the university would find out of the accident and kick him out of the program, and as a consequence his career would be over. For this same reason, the client had suicidal thoughts. The social worker intern should let the client know about limits of confidentiality and letting him know that she cannot tell that information for the university or anyone else. As a worker of the hospital, he is cover and she cannot say
1. What relationships and/or experiences influenced your decision to enter the field of Social Work? A personal experience that influenced my decision to enter the field of social work is when I joined the military after high school. While serving, I was able to assist the Director of the Combined Federal Campaign. This is a major campaign that is sponsored by the military and United Way, and it is geared towards raising money for nonprofit agencies. I enjoyed visiting various agencies, organizing events, as well as educating people about the available resources within their communities. This was definitely a season of growth; furthermore, after careful research I discovered the field of social work was the best profession for me. This was
As a social work professional, you must take into account your own personal values before you can be an effective worker in this field. Social workers sometimes need to put their own values aside when working with clients who don’t share their same ideals. Clients are diverse and are not going to always have the same values that the worker has. Social workers need to be professional and adhere to the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) guidelines when working with any client.
In social work there are many theories that are very beneficial. I think that empowerment theories are something you must know about. First, I will list some reasons why these theories are special. Then, we will explore the history of it. Thirdly, the key concepts will give us an open insight on what we are really talking about. Fourthly, we will focus on the term critical consciousness. Next is defining the empowerment concepts in a social context. Finally there will be information on the social work empowerment theories more in depth.
The mental health assessment is a crucial part in everyday nursing care as it evaluates an individual’s mental condition to assess for risk factors of mental illnesses and provide optimal care and treatment. Mental health is described as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community.” (CDC) If the patient not mentally healthy, they can develop mentally illnesses, which can affect treatment and the disease process of physical ailments because without mental health a person cannot be completely healthy. “Suicide Risk Assessment in High Risk Adolescents” is a nursing article that outlines suicide risk factors and prevention strategies for assist nurses in performing mental health assessments. Suicide, the act of
Can you picture the student voted “most likely to succeed” in your graduating class? This individual must have had everything going for them. They probably had good grades, popular, never in trouble, no health issues and socially and emotionally stable. However, twenty years later, after graduating college, a successful business owner, had a beautiful wife and three kids, he decides emotionally he is done and takes his own life. Mental health issues can manifest at anytime with varying degrees of significance on the emotional stability of a person. Factors such as socioeconomic status, biological and environmental issues all dictate mental health needs. Obviously, a variety of circumstances can evoke these mental health issues. Now imagine coping with these mental health issues and being expected to still be a normal student and conform to your peers around you. This is what we expect of our students dealing with a variety of mental health issues. The policies and procedures are established to meet the needs of all students. The mental health issues are recognized and evaluated based on the best placement for the student to receive an education. The public school system has the responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education. The school does the best they can to provide a whole school approach to deal with the increasing number of mental health concerns. However, the mental health concerns carry on beyond high school.
Standard 2: Self-Awareness of the NASW Standards for Cultural Competence in Social Work Practice explains the importance of self-awareness in Social Work practice in. It reads,