The Nature and the Features of Case Work  Social case work has its own history evolved

from different
institutions of civilization, religion and culture. But it has developed a preferential leaning towards the
principles of democracy, the fundamental rights, and human growth and development.  Social Case
work stands on the basic belief that human beings are born with innate capacities and these capacities
need to be enhanced with new knowledge and skills, and experiences gained through everyday life.
Moreover, human beings need to learn to cope with the new challenges that result from the rapid
changes in society. They need to acquire new competencies to achieve the milestones of growth and
development.  Social case work involves a process of social treatment. This implies that social
treatment is the sum total of all activities and services directed towards helping the person with a
problem. The focus is to relieve the immediate problem and if possible, to modify any basic aspects of
the person that have precipitated.  Human beings take to different patterns of interaction with other
human beings. These patterns may be classified as: a. Primary level b. Secondary level c. Tertiary level a.
Primary level: When a child is born, the basic institution of family is responsible for the child’s initial
interaction. The child develops certain skills required to interact with the society at large in an
appropriate manner. The family prepares the child to face the challenges in human relationships. In this
context the case worker has to assess the level of interaction within the family and ensure the quality of
the foundational skills for healthy interaction with one another. Both the parents and the child come into
the process of case work in order to improve the innate skills and build up new capacities for solving any
immediate problem and meeting the future challenges in intra and inter relationships. b. Secondary
level: Institutions such as schools, religious structures, and so on which can make a great impact on the
child’s growth and development as a human being come under this level. These institutions aim at
imparting knowledge and skills and assist in the mature growth of the person. At this stage the person’s
problems may become more manifest. He/she may tend to develop behavioural and attitudinal
problems, as new dimensions of life unfold themselves at the physical, psycho-social, and faith levels.
The case worker has a significant role to play at this juncture in the life of a person as a child, or teenager
or young adult. He/she needs to understand the complexity of the problem sefforts to enable the person
to solve the problem as well as to proceed further in his/her life’s journey through the dissemination of
suitable knowledge and skills. c. Tertiary level: The tertiary level of human interaction begins in the
community and develops in the society at a wider level. The person who obtained the skills at the
primary and secondary levels demonstrates the learning in the society through his/her interactions. In
this process the individual may face conflict situations that may affect his/her wellbeing. Hence the
intervention of the case worker assumes importance in helping the individual with problem-solving skills
and suitable support, so that the individual is able to understand the reality and increase his/her
adaptive and adjustment capacity to solve the problem and enhance the quality of his/her life. The
process of intervention in case work enables individuals to build up their innate and acquired capacities
to find solutions to their problems, and improve their level of functioning in the family and society to the
optimal level. Thus the existing gap between the issues and the potentialities of the individual is reduced
or removed, and the quality of life of the individual increases through proper adjustment and adaptive
mechanisms. The individual is now able to positively contribute to the welfare of the society in which
he/she lives through appropriate human relationships that are reciprocal in nature.ituation or the
growth process and support the person, parents and teachers in their
Crisis Intervention Case work (CIC): Gerald Caplan (1964) describes a crisis situation as involving a
“relatively short period of psychological disequilibrium in a person who confronts a hazardous situation
that for him constitutes an important problem which he can for the time being neither escape nor solve
with his customary problem-solving resources”. Case work interventions that address such instances and
individuals are known as crisis intervention casework. Crisis Intervention Case Work is relevant in
situations such as the following: 1. Accident 2. Death of a loved one 3. Natural disaster like Tsunami/
Floods/Volcanic eruption/ Famine/ cyclone/rain /fire 4. Serious Health related issues /illness 5. Financial
crisis 6. Unemployment 7. Unexpected pregnancy 3.4.1 Strategy of application: Interventions consist of
assisting the individual or the family in solving the current problem by learning better and hopefully
healthier ways of coping with the hazardous circumstance. Crisis intervention therefore focuses on the
immediate problem situation, not on long-standing disorders or well-established character patterns. In
the crisis intervention model, the case worker involves in enhancing the ability of the person to cope
with the current problem of living. Intervention is for the specific problems of interpersonal conflict, role
dysfunction, and provisions for life. Conflicts which are either conscious or to conscious are worked
upon. Transference is recognized and handled. Assessment is focused on the client‟s position in the
family and in community. 3.4.2 Essentials of Crisis-Intervention Model: In crisis situations, social workers
need to work very fast in responding to the needs of the client involving quick decision-making. Often,
the case worker takes up the role of an advocate and activist. 3.5 Preventive Case Work Preventive Case
Work is largely focused on working with clients to prevent the occurrence of an undesirable behavior or
consequence. The word „preventive‟ denotes the direction of the case work practice. The case worker is
actively involved in providing information, creating awareness, enabling clarified thinking and
empowered decision-making among the clients to effectively avoid disruptive modes of operation. The
target population usually involves vulnerable clients who are at risk (women, children, aged, disabled,
marginalized people). These clients are helped to avoid social degradation, thereby preventing any
future problems. Substance abuse Preventive Case Work practice is concerned with persons addicted to
bad/unhealthy habits like - - - - - - Binge Drinking Smoking Suffering from problems due to Unhealthy
relationship, Psychological distress, and Domestic Violence. 3.5.1 Essentials of Preventive Case work:
Preventive Case work can be either long-term method or short-term method depending on the problem
but the ultimate goal is to prevent the problem. Environmental modification is important to increase or
decrease the existing situation of the client both positively and negatively. Environmental modification is
a good technique to solve the problem faced by the client but it takes a lot of time and sufficient follow-
ups. 3.6 Implementation of the Intervention Plan The case worker needs the support of the family
members in helping the client. This will help the client to function normally in the society. 3.7 Social Case
Work & Sustainability Social work is a helping profession that utilizes a professional approach in
addressing social issues and creates social change. This is a profession which focuses on sustainability
among its working population. Social work capacitates individuals to take the lead in addressing their
own situation. Sustainability helps the social workers to be proactive as they come across Anakin

Summary  Casework is a problem solving method which is task oriented and focused on addressing any
kind of issues / problems and follows a systematic procedure in solving them.   It is an effective
method that helps clients to understand their own problems and through a process become empowered
to solve them. Case work is also a need-based method which grows by practice. The various types of
case work practice have evolved in response to the growing needs of individuals and the nature of their
problems.  Case Work practice is concerned with individuals, families, and groups.  Case Work practice
consists of crisis intervention, problem-solving, intermediate intervention/treatment and long term
intervention/treatment.