Therapeutic practice with refugee clients: a qualitative study of therapist experience

Background There is limited research on the subjective experience of therapists and their understanding of therapeutic process when working with people from refugee backgrounds. Objective The present study provides a qualitative account of therapists’ conceptions of therapeutic practice and experiences of working therapeutically with refugee clients. Method Participants were 12 mental health workers who had worked therapeutically with people from refugee backgrounds, with an average of 7.6 years (range 1.5-16 years) experience in this field. Participants completed a semi-structured interview and completed a brief quantitative survey. Findings Thematic analysis revealed a number of super-ordinate themes. Four key themes are explored in the current study: principles of therapeutic practice; therapy as a relational experience; the role of context in informing therapeutic work with refugee clients; and the impact of therapeutic work on the therapist. Discussion The results revealed the complexity and demands of working with people from refugee backgrounds. Further, the lack of research evidence for the methods of therapeutic practice described in the current study highlights the distinction between naturalistic therapeutic practice and the current state of the evidence regarding therapeutic interventions for refugee clients. The findings have important implications for training and supporting therapists to work with people who have fled their countries of origin and who have often been exposed to highly traumatic events.

Locating Indigenous Australia within community development practice : clients, consumers or change makers?

The philosophical promise of community development to “resource and empower people so that they can collectively control their own destinies” (Kenny 1996:104) is no doubt alluring to Indigenous Australia. Given the historical and contemporary experiences of colonial control and surveillance of Aboriginal bodies, alongside the continuing experiences of socio-economic disadvantage, community development reaffirms the aspirational goal of Indigenous Australians for self-determination. Self-determination as a national policy agenda for Indigenous Australians emerged in the 1970s and saw the establishment of a wide range of Aboriginal community-controlled services (Tsey et al 2012). Sullivan (2010:4) argues that the Aboriginal community controlled service sector during this time has, and continues to be, instrumental to advancing the plight of Indigenous Australians both materially and politically. Yet community development and self-determination remain highly problematic and contested in how they manifest in Indigenous social policy agendas and in practice (Hollinsworth 1996; Martin 2003; McCausland 2005; Moreton-Robinson 2009). Moreton-Robinson (2009:68) argues that a central theme underpinning these tensions is a reading of Indigeneity in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, behaviours, cultures, and communities are pathologised as “dysfunctional” thus enabling assertions that Indigenous people are incapable of managing their own affairs. This discourse distracts us from the “strategies and tactics of patriarchal white sovereignty” that inhibit the “state’s earlier policy of self-determination” (Moreton-Robinson 2009:68). We acknowledge the irony of community development espoused by Ramirez above (1990), that the least resourced are expected to be most resourceful.; however, we wish to interrogate the processes that inhibit Indigenous participation and control of our own affairs rather than further interrogate Aboriginal minds as uneducated, incapable and/or impaired...

Post traumatic success: Positive psychology and solution-focused strategies to help clients survive and thrive

I am an academic who has spent a career using a strengths-based approach in researching ways to promote and maintain mental health in people who have experienced trauma. When I read the title of the book, the notion of “post traumatic success” immediately brought many questions to my mind. What is success anyway? How do we measure success following trauma? Who decides if a person has been successful? However, as I started to read, the intention of the book became clear and my bias regarding the title lessened...

The Google Online Marketing Challenge: A Transnational Comparison of Classroom Learning with Real Clients, Real Money, and Real Advertising Campaigns

In 2008, a collaborative partnership between Google and academia launched the Google Online Marketing Challenge (hereinafter Google Challenge), perhaps the world’s largest in-class competition for higher education students. In just two years, almost 20,000 students from 58 countries participated in the Google Challenge. The Challenge gives undergraduate and graduate students hands-on experience with the world’s fastest growing advertising mechanism, search engine advertising. Funded by Google, students develop an advertising campaign for a small to medium sized enterprise and manage the campaign over three consecutive weeks using the Google AdWords platform. This article explores the Challenge as an innovative pedagogical tool for marketing educators. Based on the experiences of three instructors in Australia, Canada and the United States, this case study discusses the opportunities and challenges of integrating this dynamic problem-based learning approach into the classroom.

Changes in cannabis use among psychotic clients without specialised substance use treatment

The need to address substance use among people with psychosis has been well established. However, treatment studies targeting substance use in this population have reported mixed results. Substance users with psychosis in no or minimal treatment control groups achieve similar reductions in substance use compared to those in more active substance use treatment, suggesting a role for natural recovery from substance use. This meta-analysis aims to quantify the amount of natural recovery from substance use within control groups of treatment studies containing samples of psychotic substance users, with a particular focus on changes in cannabis use. A systematic search was conducted to identify substance use treatment studies. Meta-analyses were performed to quantify reductions in the frequency of substance use in the past 30 days. Significant but modest reductions (mean reduction of 0.3–0.4 SD across the time points) in the frequency of substance use were found at 6 to 24 months follow up. The current study is the first to quantify changes in substance use in samples enrolled in no treatment or minimal treatment control conditions. These findings highlight the potential role of natural recovery from substance use among individuals with psychosis, although they do not rule out effects of regression to the mean. Additionally, the results provide a baseline from which to estimate likely changes or needed effects sizes in intervention studies. Future research is required to identify the processes underpinning these changes, in order to identify strategies that may better support self-management of substance use in people with psychosis.

Screening for partner violence among family mediation clients: Differentiating types of abuse

Family mediation is mandated in Australia for couples in dispute over separation and parenting as a first step in dispute resolution, except where there is a history of intimate partner violence. However, validation of effective well-differentiated partner violence screening instruments suitable for mediation settings is at an early phase of development. This study contributes to calls for better violence screening instruments in the mediation context to detect a differentiated range of abusive behaviors by examining the reliability and validity of both established scales, and newly developed scales that measured intimate partner violence by partner and by self. The study also aimed to examine relationships between types of abuse, and between gender and types of abuse. A third aim was to examine associations between types of abuse and other relationship indicators such as acrimony and parenting alliance. The data reported here are part of a larger mixed method, naturalistic longitudinal study of clients attending nine family mediation centers in Victoria, Australia. The current analyses on baseline cross-sectional screening data confirmed the reliability of three subscales of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2), and the reliability and validity of three new scales measuring intimidation, controlling and jealous behavior, and financial control. Most clients disclosed a history of at least one type of violence by partner: 95% reported psychological aggression, 72% controlling and jealous behavior, 50% financial control, and 35% physical assault. Higher rates of abuse perpetration were reported by partner versus by self, and gender differences were identified. There were strong associations between certain patterns of psychologically abusive behavior and both acrimony and parenting alliance. The implications for family mediation services and future research are discussed.

Developing the helping relationship: Engaging with clients in different contexts

"Human service workers need more than just common sense. This book offers a comprehensive introduction to practice skills required across the human service sector. The authors use critical analysis to systematically outline the key stages of interaction with clients."--Libraries Australia "A thorough introduction to the core practice skills needed by social work and welfare professionals. Human service workers need more than just common sense. Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare offers a comprehensive introduction to practice skills required across the human service sector. The authors use critical analysis to systematically outline the key stages of interaction with clients: engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation. Drawing on a strengths approach, they examine the skills needed for working with different types of clients: individuals, families and community groups. They also explore the dilemmas faced in daily practice, including the challenges of working with involuntary clients, clients from different cultural backgrounds, and clients in crisis situations. Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare provides a model of integrated practice which incorporates the key components of ideology, theory, phase, skill and context. Detailed case studies demonstrate how welfare services can be delivered in different contexts. Written by experienced teachers and practitioners from Australia and New Zealand, Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare is a practical and user friendly text for students and reference for practitioners"--Publisher website

Developing the helping relationship: Engaging with clients in different contexts

"Fully revised edition of this widely used introduction to the core practice skills needed by social work and other human service professionals. 'The main strength of the book is the consistency of its themes throughout the text.I would like to commend the editors of this book for the contribution it should make to practice teaching with social work and welfare' - Karen Heycox in Australian Social Work Human service workers need more than just common sense. Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare offers a comprehensive introduction to practice skills required across the human service sector. The authors use critical analysis to systematically outline the key stages of interaction with clients: engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation. Drawing on a strengths approach, they examine the skills needed for working with different types of clients: individuals, families and community groups. They also explore the dilemmas faced in daily practice, including the challenges of working with involuntary clients, clients from different cultural backgrounds, and clients in crisis situations. Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare provides a model of integrated practice which incorporates the key components of ideology, theory, phase, skill and context. Detailed case studies demonstrate how welfare services can be delivered in different contexts. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated and includes new material on online services and strengths-based practice. Written by experienced teachers and practitioners from Australia and New Zealand, Practice Skills in Social Work and Welfare is a practical and user friendly text for students and reference for practitioners."--Publisher website

Skill development for innovative procurement environments in construction

The construction industry should be a priority to all governments because it impacts economically and socially on all citizens. Sector turnover in industrialised economies typically averages 8-12% of GDP. Further, construction is critical to economic growth. Recent Australian studies estimate that a 10% gain in efficiency in construction translates to a 2.5% increase in GDP Inefficiencies in the Australian construction industry have been identified by a number of recent studies modelling the building process. They have identified potential savings in time of between 25% and 40% by reducing non-value added steps in the process. A culture of reform is now emerging in the industry – one in which alternate forms of project delivery are being trialed. Government and industry have identified Alliance Contracting as a means to increase efficiency in the construction industry as part of a new innovative procurement environment. Alliance contracting requires parties to form relationships and work cooperatively to provide a more complete service. This is a significant cultural change for the construction industry, with its well-known adversarial record in traditional contracting. Alliance contracts offer enormous potential benefits, but the Australian construction industry needs to develop new skills to effectively participate in the new relationship environment. This paper describes a collaborative project identifying skill needs for clients and construction professionals to more effectively participate in an increasingly sophisticated international procurement environment. The aim of identifying these skill needs is to assist industry, government, and skill developers to prepare the Australian construction workforce for the future. The collaborating Australian team has been fortunate to secure the Australian National Museum in Canberra as its live case study. The Acton Peninsula Development is the first major building development in the world awarded on the basis of a joint alliance contract.