Social Work Program
The Department of Social Work at JVS utilizes a staff of experienced social workers as well as graduate and undergraduate social work students from a number of colleges and universities in Kansas and Missouri. Our department was developed in order to compliment and strengthen existing services within the agency. Social Work staff members provide services to refugees, immigrants and vocational rehabilitation clients seeking services at JVS. In 2006 the Social Work Department added a community family advocacy component for greater Kansas City Missouri and a specialized treatment service for multicultural families experiencing child abuse and neglect. Services offered through the Social Work Department include individual and group counseling, community resource referral, assistance with needs such as housing and food, education of community and at -risk populations, and advocacy for individual clients and client populations. Since JVS offers a wide range of services, the social work department interacts with a diverse client population from all over the world, with a variety of strengths and needs.
Refugee and Immigrant Services
Refugees and Immigrants from a variety of countries including Sudan, Somalia, Cuba, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Liberia and many others receive resettlement services through the JVS Center for New Americans (CNA). Social workers and social work students often work with bilingual CNA staff to assist and empower these individuals and families as they adjust to their new homeland here in the United States. Services include diverse clinical interventions with a strong appreciation and application of cultural competency.
Rehabilitation Services
Individuals with disabilities from all over the Kansas City metro area receive assistance in seeking and keeping employment from the JVS Rehabilitation Department. This includes clients who are deaf and hard of hearing, those with physical and mental disabilities and those with mental illness. Social work staff members often work as part of a team with the Rehabilitation staff to enhance these services and foster success among the individuals who seek these services.
Family Advocacy Outreach
In partnership with community and state organizations, JVS social workers provide intensive, holistic services to assist families in removing clinical and case management barriers to stability and self-sufficiency. Strengths based short-term solution oriented interventions are available to the over 2000 families referred to the program each year. Home visits are part of the synthesis of outreach efforts to engage, assess and empower families to improve their life conditions.
The JVS Social Work Program services are provided at JVS, the individual's home and community centers. The program offers multiple benefits to the individuals served including:
Extended Case Management
- Community resource referral, follow-up and coordination
- Strengths perspective focus on community, culture and family
- Self reliance, empowerment
- Education and employment support
Counseling
- Utilizing individual, family and group treatment modalities
- Coordinate/enhance treatments of other counseling sources
- Transitional adjustment issues
- Depression, drug/alcohol use, personal/family relationships
- Family abuse and neglect
- Education and support
- School, child and family coordination/support services
The JVS Social Work program helps develop and implement critical educational and support groups for special populations including refugee women’s groups and vocational rehabilitation job seekers.
The individuls served benefit from the research projects and evaluation conducted by the student interns who are guided by their university professors and JVS staff. Interns come to JVS at the undergraduate and graduate levels. They are placed with the agency for field work from 8 to 25 hours per week for the semester or academic year and up to 40 hours per week for concentrated summer Practicum experiences. The JVS Social Work Internship Program has expanded to include other disciplines such as health, sociology, business and education.
The Social Work program has also been partnering with the JVS Refugee program for a new initiative called the Relationship Enhancement Program, which educates refugees on how to maintain healthy interpersonal within the family dynamic and in the community or workplace. Father David Altschul, Social Work Coordinator and Martin Okpareke, Manager of Refugee Employment and Training Services implement the program.
.JPG)
In July 2006 JVS added a new service component for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) residents in eastern Jackson County/Independence. The purpose of this program is to provide crisis management services to TANF participants and to reengage them with Full Employment Council (FEC) caseworkers. A primary program objective is to assist FEC in increasing work participation through recovery case management and ongoing case management efforts.
The targeted TANF population includes sanctioned participants, participants who were previously in a work activity but were dropped due to a barrier, participants who have barriers which need to be addressed and any hard-to-serve TANF participant who is not in a work activity.
JVS staff provides services to the TANF participants in order to enhance their self-sufficiency potential and to improve their quality of life with a holistic solutions approach to barrier assessments and interventions.
Without discrimination, JVS serves individuals from all faiths and ethnicities. The Social Work program embraces diversity and benefits the individuals we serve by helping them develop their capacity for self-sufficiency.
The Social Work Department thanks the following funders:
Heart of America United Way
www.hauw.org/
Local Investment Commission (LINC)
www.kclinc.org/
Full Employment Council (FEC)
www.ded.mo.gov/WFD/Missouri%20Career%20Centers/Kansas%20City%20and%20Vicinity/Kansas%20City%20-%20Full%20Employment%20Council.aspx
Missouri Department of Social Services Children's Division
www.dss.mo.gov/pr_cs.htm
Friends and associates of JVS
The JVS Social Work Department expresses its gratitude to the Kaufman Fund for providing the initial revenue that allowed our agency to establish a social work program.
Want to learn more?
If you are interested in social work employment or field education opportunities at JVS, please contact Bruno Finocchario LSCSW/LSCW, Social Work Manager at bfino@jvskc.org or 816-471-2808 ext. 1125. JVS works with BSW students, foundation level MSW students and advanced level MSW students in the clinical and administrative tracts.