Clinical Work with Children

Clinical Work with Children Vicky Rodriguez New Mexico State University

Clinical Work with Children

Abstract Social work has always been a calling to people who want to help people around them. Nobody realizes how social work has a variety of fields one person can go into, and clinical work with children is a tricky but satisfying job to go into. Clinical work with children helps the children get through rough situations, not by treating them as tiny adults, but by involving different methods to communicate with them. Play therapy is involved with clinical work and there are different methods to get the children to talk to the therapist, subconsciously. Children protect themselves by not speaking the truth because they are scared of the consequences they may face. Play therapy helps them speak their true feelings and not realizing they did. Social work is a job that is rising with opportunities because there are more children coming into the world with more youthful parents that do not all know how to care for the children at such a young age.

Clinical Work with Children

Clinical Work with Children: Social Work Interest There are many fields to enter when deciding upon the career of social work. An interesting career that has caught my attention is clinical work with children. Working with children is a difficult task because speaking to them has to change completely from when speaking to an adult. The National Heart Lung and Blood Institute make a great statement by saying, The simple truth is...children are not little adults (U.S Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). People that are diagnosed most commonly are adults, but children are not likely to be tested upon. Therefore, children must be prescribed what adults are prescribed and what doctors feel is the best. Clinical work is very important because a lot of research must be done to make sure children receive the right amount of attention needed to help them. Robyn Rehbein works at the SWF Institute as a clinical supervisor and has her own caseloads in the Memorial Medical Hospital. She obtains masters in social psychology and masters in CEP (both masters obtained from NMSU). Children that are seen in the Memorial Medical Hospital by Robyn range from ages 3-10 years of age. She is most involved with CYFD, foster care, traumatic background, abused children, and neglected children. Her purpose is to help change childrens lives to by encouraging a safe environment. All the services provided for children have that one purpose and its to make a difference and make sure kids are safe. Clinical work with children has caught my interest because it seems as though it is something that would be interesting, challenging, but also fun. When Robyn Rehbein was asked why she liked her job she responded, I do it because I love it, even if I won the lottery I still would do it. I have a talent and I love working with kids (Personal Communication, October 25, 2012). The dedication needed to help children is very extreme and one must know how to be determined to help children. Its a passion that could be very rewarding, but very tedious to work

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with at the same time. One must be very careful when having sessions with children; they study every move of the adult. According to Robyn children will notice any kind of emotion that is made by one facial expression and will close off completely and not speak or share what is really happening (Personal Communication, October 25, 2012). This could be rather difficult depending how damaged the child is and also if the parents are willing to help or not. Robyn Rehbein said, To me when facing a challenge the end result makes it all worth it, to see the child smiling and knowing the child has been helped(Personal Communication, October 25,2012). Clinical work with children is defined as activities done in the presence of the child to benefit them in their situation (East Tennessee State University, 2012). To help the child the social worker points out the problem in a way the child understands and can cope with. The social worker has many methods to help the child which include different types of therapy that depend on the situation of the child. Social workers provide individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning and assistance with patients special needs to complete their rehabilitating process (Childrens Hospital of Pittsburg, 2012). It really depends on what the problem of the child is. If the child is being abused by the parents then it would be best to do individual sessions because the child would be scared to speak in front of their parents. Children lose confidence in adults when being maltreated, but if you do something to have them speak subconsciously and you gain their trust it would be easier to resolve the issue. Places where children could be helped here in my town are CYFD, CASA, FYI, Mesilla Valley (TFC program) and the Memorial Medical Hospital. All these services are open to everyone who wishes to receive help, or to all kids who are referred to attend for services. These services provide help to all people from infants to elders. Most cases that require these services

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involve neglected children from family homes or foster care, who must be put in the least restricted environment or be removed from the dangerous environment. Altogether the most common clients who attend clinical work with children are children themselves because this is a specific field that requires special training to work with kids. To be able to do this work the social worker must have a master in social work or psychology Another form of clinical work with children is Child-Centered Play Therapy (CCPT). Play therapy is a form of counseling that is used by therapists to understand children by utilizing toys and through play (April, Garofano, Brown, 2008). Play is a natural desire for children and creates a therapeutic bond with the therapist to communicate at their developmental level (Sara B. Weil, 2012). Children are used to playing and dont see this as a way of therapy and dont feel stressed out because they are being observed. A lot of information is gathered by watching how they react when playing, or by the way they play with dolls. They do everything without noticing they are being observed by a therapist. Kids are so use to their daily lives they dont realize their attitude or methods of playing are abnormal because they have been abused. Therapists gather these random bits of information that comes up at moments without the child noticing and put everything together. Play therapy helps children communicate with the therapists by allowing them to see what they really want to say, but do not have the intellectual advancement to do so (Social Workers Role in the Delivery of Play Therapy to Children, 2012). Although play therapy has not been advanced and researchers are still trying to prove that its effective many believe it is a waste of time to be performing this method. There is not enough proof to show how it helps improve childrens lives. Play therapy traces its root to Sigmund Freuds psychoanalytic theory, just like any other therapy (Social Workers Role in the Delivery of Play Therapy to Children,

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2012). Freud explains to us children react the way they do when playing because it comes from instinct and dont feel as being observed, but as what they do daily (Social Workers Role in the Delivery of Play Therapy to Children, 2012). When a child is preparing to be examined there are many people that are involved. The parents are very important to be a part of the childs recovery because they are the ones spending the most time with them. Siblings and other family members are also part of the team since they may be affected by the requirements of a study and may have special concerns (National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 2012). Besides from family there is a large medical team who helps with the recovery of the child. People involved in clinical work with children are principal investigators (PI), developmental researchers, research nurse(s), pharmacists, scientist, research coordinator(s), doctors, and institutional review boards. All these people are very essential to the study of the childs mental health because a lot must be done. They need a lot of information to make sure they are doing whats best. Medicine is prescribed, therapy is done, and the research team needs to find out what is the problem causing the child discomfort. Although, in the very end the most important thing for the child to feel stable is to have their family next to them and supporting their recovery. All over the world there are children who are being abused and there are many openings for social workers. There were 650,000 job openings for social workers in the year 2010 and the job opportunities keep increasing as the years progress (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). More and more people keep having children at a very young age and many cannot handle the responsibility to keep the child stable and safe. A child caring for a child makes it very difficult and frustrating for the parents and that is how the abuse begins. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2010) estimates that at least one in ten children in the United States suffers from

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a mental illness severe enough to cause some level of impairment in functioning and development(Sara Weil, 2012). The job of a social worker is under the administration of the government and there will always be job openings available in this field. The pay rate for a social worker is $42,480 per year, estimating a pay of $20.42 per hour. This is as lucky as one can get, social workers do not get paid a lot. Although, if people want to join this field for the pay, they are entering the wrong field (Amanda Wiles, Personal Communication, 2012). Being a social worker must take a lot of dedication and be open for any type of change. Clinical work with children can be very draining at times and depressing to deal with mentally damaged children. Social workers must put up a strong rock hard front to keep emotions from coming out in front of the children or family members. Robyn Rehbeing tells us Kids are more fun, but harder work to get them to open up. The reward of getting to play all day and see the children happy makes my job all worth it (Personal Communication, 2012 October 25). Being able to make a difference and stand up for children that cannot stand up for themselves is what I wish to do. Make a difference by letting one child know that there are people out in the world that care for them. Social work is a very large field and I have not decided which field exactly to take. Clinical work with children has taken my interest, but it can always change to a generalist social worker. Only time can tell what they future beholds, only thing I am positive about is that I will make a difference in the world and help individuals as much as possible.

Clinical Work with Children

Resources Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2012-13 Edition.Social Workers. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-socialservice/social-workers.htm. Children and Clinical Studies. 2012 April 4. National Heart Lunch and Blood Institute People Science.In Safety and Protections. Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/childrenandclinicalstudies/safety.php Childrens Hospital of Pittsburg (2012, January 12).Social Work, Clinical: Description of Services. Retrieved from http://www.chp.edu/CHP/socialwork Department of Social Work.Definition of Clinical Practice.21 October 2012. Retrieved from http://www.etsu.edu/socialwork/mswprogram/defclinicalpractice.aspx Henson, K. Robin, Ray, C. Dee, Schottelkorb, A. April.Effect Of Short-and Long-Term play Therapy Services on Teacher.Pyschology in the Schools, Vol. 45(10),2008.Web.1 November 2012. Rehbein, Robyn.Children Play Therapist, Psychologist Memorial Medical Center.2012, October 25. Weil, Sara, "Social Workers Role in the Delivery of Play Therapy to Children" (2012). Master of Social Work Clinical Research Papers. Paper 102. Retrieved from http://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/102 Wiles, Amanda.Social Worker, Therapist, Instructor in NMSU.2012, October 16.