social work

There are a total of sixteen organizations in Mississippi that offer domestic violence services. In each of the cities, there is at least one domestic violence and abuse shelter and program, hotline and emergency shelter. Beyond the cities, there are more domestic violence and abuse shelters and programs. One organization in Mississippi is the Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence (MCADV) where victims of domestic abuse can get help. MCADV offers training sessions, resource materials as well as special events to various sectors of the community such as the law enforcement, civic groups, service providers and professional groups (Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2019).

Besides this, the organization provides legal services to the victims of domestic violence and other interpersonal forms of abuse associated with shelter programs. These include family law issues and non-tort legal services that are in a civil context. Besides this, MCADV engages in public awareness by conducting continuous statewide campaigns on the media targeting specific audiences such as action-oriented communication to the general public and victims. The organization helps victims with referrals to the local domestic shelters (Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 2019). Another organization is Care Lodge Domestic Violence Shelter Inc. that offers various comprehensive services and programs to the victims of domestic abuse in East Mississippi. Some of these services include case management where help aimed at meeting individual needs is offered. They offer victims advocacy for law enforcement social and legal services. The organization provides education as well as they provide public awareness and education to the communities. 

Lastly, there is the Domestic Abuse Family Shelter that provides safe housing for children and women who are victims of domestic abuse. Shelter services comprise of transportation, counseling, childcare, after case management and referral. There are also education and prevention programs delivered to schools, agencies, communities and domestic intervention classes for the abusers. Generally, in each of the sixteen cities, there are domestic violence programs. They each offer emergency services such as emergency shelter and local transportation, food and clothing, danger and lethality assessment, confidential shelter location, domestic violence education and case management (Domestic Abuse Family Shelter, 2019).

Practice Skills

At the mezzo level, the domestic violence social worker is expected to work with organizations and groups such as neighborhoods, schools, hospitals, businesses, law enforcement and small-scale communities. On the other hand, at the macro level, the social worker works towards bringing about large scale systematic change by crafting laws, petitioning the government for community funds, molding social policy and organizing activist groups (Cournoyer, 2016). To accomplish this at both the macro and mezzo level of practice, the social worker needs a number of practice skills. Some of these skills may overlap and this is because they are dealing with the same issue at levels where they are actively involved with the community and large organizations such as the government and activist groups so as to bring positive change to domestic violence. 

One of the practice skill that a social worker needs both at the macro and mezzo level is persuasion. At both levels, they are expected to invite others to take action against domestic abuse and they have to be persuasive. For instance, persuasion skills are required when they are petitioning the government for funds or running media campaigns against domestic violence. Another important skill is coordination at bot levels as they mobilize people towards action (Hepworth et al., 2016). They need to be able to coordinate communication and action among different parties as they connect client to various services and contact different institutions and communities. 

Besides this, the social worker at both levels need organization skills as they are required to deal with busy schedules, gratuitous paperwork and heavy caseloads. By successfully prioritizing and managing the most important logistical aspects of their work, they are able to maximize their time and get so much accomplished. Also, they need excellent verbal and written communication skills as they will be required to express themselves to different people and groups in different contexts. For instance, communication skills will come in handy as they run media campaigns or as they craft laws or petition the government for funds. Moss (2017) states that as they deliver community education at the mezzo level, they need both written and verbal communication skills. Apart from active communication skills, they need active listening skills as they interact with the community, relevant institutions and any other smaller groups. 

References

Cournoyer, B. R. (2016). The social work skills workbook. Cengage Learning.

Domestic Abuse Family Shelter. (2019). United Way of Southeast Mississippi. https://www.unitedwaysems.org/DAFS 

Hepworth, D. H., Rooney, R. H., Rooney, G. D., & Strom-Gottfried, K. (2016). Empowerment series: Direct social work practice: Theory and skills. Nelson Education.

Mississippi Coalition Against Domestic Violence. (2019). Be a Stand-up Guy not a Stand-by Guy. https://mcadv.org/ 

Moss, B. (2017). Communication skills in health and social care. Sage.