Discussion: Solution-Focused Model: Asking QuestionsSocial workers who utilize the solution-focused model are mindful of how their conversations with their clients, families, groups, or even community members facilitate their thinking about solutions. The client is always the “expert,” and therefore social workers ask questions to explore how the client perceives the problem and situation.Social workers may use solution-focused questions such as the miracle question. For example, “Suppose you woke up one morning and by some miracle everything you ever wanted, everything good you could ever imagine for yourself, had actually happened—your life had turned out exactly the way you wanted it. What would be different in your life?” When clients are asked this, it forces them to reflect on what they want or would like to achieve. By projecting themselves into the future, clients are more likely to imagine what is possible rather than focusing on the past and their failures. This allows for the possibility of developing solutions.In this Discussion, you apply the solution-focused model and solution-focused questions. You provide other solution-focused questions, similar to the miracle question that was provided for you.Although the textbook provides actual examples of solution-focused questions, always think about your client—you may have to modify the question a bit to take into account the client’s age, cognitive and developmental stage, culture, etc., so that the question makes sense to the client.To prepare:Recall a case from your fieldwork experience to use for this Discussion.Review and focus on pages 520–521 in your textbook.By Day 3Post:In 1 to 2 sentences, briefly identify and describe the problem as perceived by the client, family, or group that you dealt with in your past fieldwork experience.From the list of solution-focused questions on page 520 (e.g., exception questions, coping questions, scaling questions, and relationship questions), identify two different types of questions, and ask each question as if you were actually asking the questions to the client. (Remember, do not use the miracle question.)Remember that the goal of these questions is to assist clients in identifying a solutionExplain how asking these two questions would help the client in coming up with the solution.In 1 to 2 sentences, reflect and explain how asking these questions made you feel and perhaps how the client might feel.By Day 5Respond to two colleagues:Identify a barrier that might make it difficult to implement the solution-focused model with the client described.Discuss how a social worker could help a client re-focus on the present, rather than on their past.Colleague 1: Allison Class, In my fieldwork experiences, there have many different problems that have come up that needed to be solved conjunctively. One problem that I faced was my client not having enough caregivers to take care of him throughout the day until his wife and daughter got home. He was completely bed-bound and required all of his ADLs to be done for him besides feeding himself. To better my understanding of the solutions that the patient and his family wanted I could ask exception questions. The first question would be: What are the qualities of a caregiver that you could not tolerate when receiving a caregiver to assist you? This question is so important because of the poor work that has been done previous in his caregiver experiences. Second, I would use a coping question. My question to him and his family would be: How have you been handling being by yourself when your family isn’t home and there is no caregiver so far? These questions would help the client and his family come to a solution by allowing them to explore what has gone right and wrong so far in their caregiver’s experiences with various agencies, and then what deal breakers should be added to the list for optimal care. These questions do help me feel more secure because then I know exactly what they don’t want and do want. Making my choices in solutions for them will be accurate and educated. These questions were also good for the patient because they allow him and the family to have a voice and advocate for what best care for the client looks like. AllieTurner, F. J. (Edu.). (2017). Social Work Treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches (6th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Colleague 2: Kelly Evans In doing my fieldwork, I had a 16-year-old adolescent that came to me with the history of molestation. This was perpetuated on her by a family friend over the course of two years. The two different questions that I would focus on are the coping question and the scaling question. Question one would be, how have you been able to cope with your day-to-day activities, like school and such? Question two would be, on a scale of 1 to 10, with one being the worst and 10 being the best, how would you rate yourself? Why would you pick that number and what would you have to do in order to be a number higher? In solution focused therapy, coming up with coping questions and scaling questions lays the foundation for setting goals. Looking at these questions is necessary for the social worker to understand exactly what the client desires for their goals. In coming up with goals it will lead to a solution and therefore success in asking these two questions. I felt as though I could really get somewhere with my client, I believe my client would feel as though I really cared for her and that the questions were really thought-provoking. Turner, F. J. (Edu.). (2017). Social Work Treatment: Interlocking theoretical approaches (6th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Assignment #2 – What is History? Step 1: Read - "Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress," found in the book A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn http://libcom.org/a-peoples-history-of-the-united-states-howard-zinn/1-columbus-the-indians-and-human-progressStep 2: Read - "1493: The True Importance of Christopher Columbus," from the book Lies My Teacher Told Me (File below)Step 3: Complete the Discussion Board Discussion Prompt: So, how many of you, one of the first words that came to mind when thinking about how Native Americans have been portrayed to you in other classes (thinking all the way back to elementary school) was SAVAGES? How many of you thought about small groups of half-naked people whooping and hollering while dancing around a fire outside of a teepee? Most people in my classes, this is their recollection of previous teachings on Native America. Surprising? So what if I were to tell you that instead of the handful of Natives here in the Americas, there were actually as many as 120 million of them in 1492? That this population size was equal to that found in Europe at that time? What if I told you that these "savages" lived in cities--sophisticated cities, many more sophisticated than Paris, France at that time. Not just the Incas or the Mayans either, there were cities all over the Americas. That the Americas are home to the greatest number of pyramids in the world...that the largest pyramid in the world is actually in the Americas not in Egypt, and that one side of the base of this pyramid measures a half mile in length? And that it has just been discovered within the last 10 years because it had been literally swallowed up by the Amazon jungle? Did any of you know all of this? Most of my students are dumbfounded by these revelations. And if I were to ask you to name something foundational to this country that we have adopted from Native America, how many of you could give me an answer? I ask you all of these things as we continue our discussions of the "discoverer" of America, Christopher Columbus, for a reason. Was he truly the discoverer of this land? Were there other foreigners who came here long before Columbus? Why don't we celebrate the AfroPhoenicians (Africans) as "discoverers" of America? Or the Chinese? For that matter, why do we celebrate a "discoverer" at all when there were already 120 million people living here? Why do we not celebrate Native Americans as one of the great "founders" of this country as we do Columbus, or the Pilgrims, or Washington, Jefferson, etc? Are they not part of our foundations? How would James Loewen explain this? Especially since much of our ideas about democracy actually come from Native Americans? YES, DEMOCRACY….one of the ideas that makes up the very foundations of this country comes from the Iroquois Confederacy. I would bet very few of you knew this.... What are your thoughts about all of this? What other issues came up for you in your readings and the lecture?