Empowerment is achieved through a social worker’s understanding of a client’s life and the ability to integrate a continuum of strategies. Empowerment-based practice initiates a strengths perspective approach. It helps clients to attain personal power to address challenges at all levels (micro, mezzo, and macro). The focus of empowerment-based practice is to highlight a client’s potentials and resiliencies while minimizing vulnerabilities.
Successful client interventions contribute to a sense of interpersonal empowerment. This increases an individual’s sense of control over their lives and enhances their ability to influence others. Empowerment boosts an individual’s feelings of competence and strengthens their capacities for problem-solving skills.
In this Assignment, you examine the fundamentals of the empowerment-based practice model.
By Day 7
Submit a 3 pages
- Explain the central concepts of the empowerment model.
- Describe how this concept is applied in social work practice.
- Explain how a client can use personal power to meet his or her needs and to gain access to resources.
Book citation for attachment
Cummins, L., K., & Sevel, J., A. (2017). Social work skills for beginning direct practice: Text, workbook, and interactive web based case studies (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
- Chapter 3, “Theory Directed Social Work Practice” (pp. 40-58)
