Agency Visit – Saint Anne's Maternity Home

Description of the agency

Saint Annes Maternity Home is an entity sponsored by Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic ministry. Spiritual values and perspectives of service and compassion control the agency. The organization was first established in 1908 and was initially intended for pregnant young women that were helpless. St. Anne's offers education at tertiary and elementary levels through their Main Campus and Early Childhood Education Centers in the entire Westlake and Koreatown districts (Canda et al., 2019) . Today, it is a premier social service agency, with a commitment to address the rising challenge of ever-shifting needs of Los Angeles's most susceptible populations.

Services offered

 St. Annes has become one for Southern California's most greatly cherished social service agencies. The services that they offer include high-quality housing, early childhood education, mental health, and supportive services. The services that the agency is offering are comprehensive that enhance safety, resilience, and constant attainment or children and families that they serve (Levenson, 2017). St. Anne's offers its clients and families with supervised visitations. Supervised visitations are normally instituted with the intent of reuniting families, for instance, those for whom their daughters had unintended pregnancies (Greene, 2017). Supervised visits will allow enlightenment and redirection of parents and children to enable a successful child and parent engagement. Following the visits, the needs of families can be established, and corresponding attention will be offered.

The mission of the agency

The mission of the agency is to engage together so that they can as an organization create safe, nurturing, and resilient families – from pregnancy to becoming parents and childhood to adulthood - for future generations.

Clientele or Population served

Initially, the clientele were women who were young, helpless, and in hiding. In this way, their pregnancy was hidden from society and their families. Today, they have a mission that takes care of young women, children, and families that are helpless, particularly in the Los Angeles community.

Describe the social worker's job activities and professional roles

As an Aftercare Therapist, my role is to provide comprehensive mental health services to clients who are transitioning or have transferred out of our STRTP to ensure quality client care. I am also responsible for documentation that adheres to DMH standards. I work with an interdisciplinary team to provide a healthy, therapeutic, and safe environment. Job activities that I am part of are providing individual, family, play, and group therapy designated for my clients. I also use DSM for diagnosing. I conduct psycho-social assessments and treatment planning.

I make sure to document client services following the Department of Mental Health standards and the Department of Children and Family Services. I also conduct visits to homes, schools, or other service providers to help the client achieve their service plan goals. I manage community and family crises involving children and parents. I also provide crisis intervention as needed. Part of my job is also to evaluate the parent/ child/ family progress and participate in interdisciplinary team meetings. I also coordinate linkage to appropriate intra-agency and community resources, including coordination of the client's psychiatric needs. I maintain fidelity to evidenced-based practices as required.

Explain what brought the social worker to the field and their work history

What brought me to the social work field was once I graduated with my BSW. My only social work history will have to be my internships and working for St. Anne's. I completed my undergrad internship at Eggleston Children and Family Services. During my undergrad internship, I worked alongside social workers and was able to conduct home visits. I worked closely with social workers and families to help them meet their goals. For grad school, I completed my internship at the Anti-Recidivism Coalition.

ARC works closely with those who are re-entering back to society who were formerly incarcerated. The members of ARC were former lifers or had spent 10+ years incarcerated. Many of the members began their sentences when they were 15+ years old (Canda et al., 2019) . I provided mental health services and provided one-on-one therapy sessions to the members. At St. Anne's, I started as a residential counsellor, by providing a safe space for our residents to live. I monitored the residents and made sure their needs were met, and they were safe while they were inside the facility.

Explain opportunities for advancement and what the social worker does for professional development

As an Aftercare Therapist, I can attend training that is facilitated by The Department of Mental Health. I can receive pieces of training and obtain certificates. I am currently obtaining my hours, and these hours will count for my licensure. Once I have completed the hours needed; I can apply for my LCSW. I have determined the need to go higher in my degree and gain more experience, especially in general psychology, with much focus on individual performance. I have seen an opportunity of moving toward private practice, and this is one route that can be productive. The many alternatives available include working in probation, in other large community mental health agencies, and even government institutions or school settings. The major goal is to utilize much professional development opportunities and through networking with specialized individuals and attending more seminars and training each year.

Describe the social worker's overall job satisfaction and strategies they use for self-care

I enjoy my job, and I enjoy working with the population we serve. As self-care, I make sure not to take work, home. I need to keep my professional and personal life separate. Spending most of my days amid someone else's trauma is expressive and requires a lot of mental stability. One may enter into stress if work is even transferred to the home. However, I love what I do. I love guiding the clients and walking with them on a journey of hope and transformation, especially the children. According to Parker (2017), self-care for him is walking through the journey of work, and concurrently spending time with my children, being around good friends (most of which are also therapists), and reading good books." To help me get from the stress of the job or not be stressed about it, I also consider vacations and some weekends out of the community many times in a year.

Analyze your experience. 

I interviewed the manager of crisis counseling and school counseling, Mrs. Mary. After the interview, I was overwhelmed about the responsibilities that a social worker can possess. St. Anne's Maternity Home is a great place to work, but since it is a nonprofit organization, the workers are less paid. As she was sharing all her responsibilities, I was sure in my heart that she needed better pay. However, I am always convinced that it is not about how much one earns but the enjoyment of one's profession in serving others. It is this can motivate anyone to be waking up every morning and head to work. Being around clientele who had great needs did not bother since this was an intermediate care facility. Through her sharing, I understood that social work entails much than can be discerned from the surface. The challenging part of it is paperwork where I have to report on the events of the day. Of course, I have never enjoyed this.

Discuss your thoughts and feelings related to the agency, clientele, and type of work

The agency should be keen on relationships with all stakeholders, the employees and clientele being key. I feel that the agency should ensure that all the workers derive satisfaction in attending to clients. The tasks are so consuming that the workers themselves must feel competent and satisfied. I am convinced that clients can change when guided well. Self-care should be promoted among them so that they can be responsible even in the absence of the workers. Indeed, because of how stressful the work can be, I feel advised that the work-life should be separated from life at home so that there is much concentration.

Reflect on why you may have experienced these reactions to the agency, clientele, and type of work

I felt that way probably because I was not so much conversant with all that goes on in an agency. The work is enormous because the social worker has to engage personally with the clients. The clients are personal issues that require the social worker to be empathetic, and one who is accommodative to listen to the experiences of others. I have always thought out this aspect differently in that I do not contemplate on the professional angel to approaching issues. Thus, I have realized that everything should be handled professionally, and if I allow the issues of the clients to get to my mind, I will be emotionally drained because of the same.

Explain which social work values and ethics were evident (or not evident) during the interview

Several worker values were evident that probably have helped Mary to rise above the ladder beyond others. She demonstrated professionalism in the way she handled me. I had to schedule time with her such she dedicated an interactive session with me for an hour without being interrupted in any way. With honesty and good communication skills, she responded to my questions with humility. However, she was mindful of privacy issues, and she did not disclose anything about any specific client. She generalized aspects while talking about clients and workers. Confidentiality is an aspect that is significant since one listens to many social issues among individuals (Knott & Scragg, 2016). I also realized that based on several services and needs of diverse individuals, it is fundamental to have conflict management skills. The clients were handled courteously with their interests at heart. Therefore, the values of confidentiality, integrity, and honesty, and valuing every client was evident through the interview.

Explain how social and economic justice relates to the services provided or population served by this agency

It is apparent that St. Anne's Maternity Home as an agency, and type of work involved in engaging the clientele, deals with multiple social and economic justice issues. Based on the findings, "Social workers shall function per the values, ethics, and standards of the NASW (2008) Code of Ethics." NASW (2018) Code of Ethics also indicates that cultural competence entails self-awareness, cultural humility, and the dedication to understanding and integrating culture as fundamental to effective practice. Social work happens at all levels: micro, mezzo, and macro. Offering some kind of services like St. Anne does to its clientele allows the workers to interact with several social problems that would require that he or she expresses the three levels to be effective. The worker attends to the client to solve his problem at an individual level, and with the family, other entities as well as the community. Social workers must be understanding that the field is about relationships, which is a tool for change. Social workers should be committed to strengthening relationships among individuals.

Explain how cultural competence was demonstrated (or not demonstrated) within the agency or by the social worker

St. Annes provides training and resources for staff to expand their knowledge. This then becomes an individual effort so that one becomes competent at what he or she does. Thus, a range of training and education is critical, particularly when desiring to experience cultural competence. Culture is dynamic and flexible, and, thus, competence in culture may never be lastingly achieved.

To conclude, visiting St. Annes Maternity Home was a great experience. I am convinced that agencies are critical in changing the social world and dealing with social issues. The workers seem to practice in a way that profits the clients. I am not sure how the services could like if only they are restricted to a short length of time that I witnessed. Sessions in the agency take one hour, during the program range from 6 to 16 weeks for the visiting clients. This, for me, may not be enough to witness an impactful change that would be perpetual.

References

Canda, E. R., Furman, L. D., & Canda, H. J. (2019). Spiritual diversity in social work practice : The heart of helping . Oxford University Press, USA.

Greene, R. (2017).  Human behavior theory and social work practice . Routledge.

Knott, C., & Scragg, T. (Eds.). (2016).  Reflective practice in social work . Learning Matters.

Levenson, J. (2017). Trauma-informed social work practice.  Social Work ,  62 (2), 105-113.

Parker, J. (2017). Social work practice : Assessment, planning, intervention and review . Learning Matters.

St. Annes Maternity Home. Retrieved May 12, 2020, https://stannes.org/