Catholic Charities, Diocese of Venice, Inc.

Multi-problem families present new challenges for social workers

By Judy Bokorney
Website Editor

Sarasota—Improving clinical techniques to treat the changing client of the 21rst Century was a common theme throughout the Florida Catholic Charities Conference held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on May 30 and 31.

About 150 Catholic Charities staff, volunteers and board members from throughout the state attended the two-day event. Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Venice hosted the conference, which offered attendees 14 workshops pertaining to social service issues.

Dr. Ramon Rojano, director of the department of services in Hartford, Conn. and Dr. Daysi Mejia a professor of social work at Florida Gulf Coast University and board member of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Venice each offered workshops on working with multi-problem families. Both speakers stressed that most clients of Catholic Charities today usually have more than one problem to address in a family, such as violence, alcoholism, substance abuse, poverty, lack of discipline, lack of work skills, anger management and depression.

“It used to be that families would come to us with just one concern at hand,” Dr. Mejia said. “Today families are entrenched with multiple problems and as social workers we have to change how we help them.”

According to Dr. Mejia, social workers are often overwhelmed when families with multiple problems come to them for assistance and tend to refer them to another agency thus making the family move from agency to agency. “We can get so overwhelmed by all the problems that we become impotent,” she said.

Most multi-problem families come to a social service agency only because an authority, like a school official, probation officer, police officer, or day care professional recommended it, Dr. Mejia said. “Often they don’t even know why they are there or what exactly is wrong with the way their family functions,” she said.

“Families experiencing multiple problems often express themselves in very confusing language because they are not sure what to do and often believe there is no solution,” Dr. Mejia said.

Dr. Mejia said social workers have to recognize that they cannot solve all the problems of a multi-problem family but must strive to show the family how to manage and solve their own problems. “They must learn to depend on themselves to handle their family dilemmas because as soon as one problem is solved another will arise. That is they way life works,” she said.

By involving the client in the decision process for treating one or two of the problems, it teaches them how to reach solutions, Dr. Mejia said. “Don’t just make up your mind about their problem. Ask them how they feel about their situation and what are the consequences of their actions and problems for the family,” she said. “Be humble and let them know that you won’t always know how to help them. After careful listening and if the client feels understood they will offer more information that often leads to a solution.”

Dr. Mejia advised that most social workers rarely receive enough information from the client to fully help them. “We have to rely on the faith of our Lord to show us the way,” she said. “Ask the Lord to fill you with the right words and decisions.”

Dr. Rojano, in his workshop, showed Catholic Charities workers a videotape of a multi-problem family that came to visit him in his office. After viewing the video he asked those attending how they would treat the family. The social workers offered many clinical solutions to the many problems of the family. Then he asked them to imagine the mother of the family as their sister. “Now what would you do to help her?”, he asked. The workshop attendees changed their answers to more empathetic treatment and less about specific solutions.

“Your first set of answers included stereotyping and judgment,” Dr. Rojano said. “But when she was your sister you had a different approach. You can’t solve all the problems of multi-problem families. They need you to just listen to them and to treat them with dignity.”

Dr. Rojano said multi-problem families often have past traumas that render them helpless and as a result they lack motivation to change their situation. “They are overwhelmed and are barely surviving,” he said. “The challenge of treating the family is great. You have to show them coping skills and how to manage their life so they can solve their own problems.”

According to Dr. Rojano, social workers are trained to be limited as professionals and give minimal treatment. “As Christians we need to be different. We need to remember to love our neighbor. We must put ourselves in our clients’ shoes and treat them as we would want to be treated,” he said. “Catholic Charities is all about being Christ-like.”