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UNIT 1

WHAT IS SOCIAL WORK?

A new international definition of social work was adopted at the General Meeting of the
International Federation of Social Workers’ (IFSW) in Montreal in July 2000 (available on-line at
):
The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships
and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of
human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people
interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are
fundamental to social work.
The definition emphasizes four concepts: social change, problem solving, person-in-the-
environment and empowerment. To begin to understand this complex work it is necessary to
explore these four key concepts.
 Social Change Mandate
A social change mandate means working in solidarity with those who are disadvantaged or
excluded from society so as to eliminate the barriers, inequities and injustices that exist in society.
Social workers should be at the forefront of promoting policy and legislation that redistributes
wealth in favour of those who are less well-off- that is, promoting equal opportunity for women,
gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender persons, people with disabilities, Aboriginal peoples and
racial and other minorities, and defending past gains made in these areas.
 Problem Solving
Social workers respond to crises and emergencies as well as everyday personal and social
problems. Within this process, social workers use problem-solving techniques to identify the
problem and formulate possible plans of action. A problem is not usually clearly defined when

their clients as a way of helping them to focus on, among other things, access to resources and the
structures of power.
“Empowerment-based social work,” therefore, has three aspects:
 making power explicit in the client-worker relationship (in order thereby to help equalize
the relationship between the client and the worker);
 giving clients experiences in which they themselves are in control (to allow them to see
the potential for controlling their lives); and
 always supporting the client’s own efforts to gain greater control over their lives as a way
of promoting change.
Putting an empowerment perspective into practice can involve techniques that make power
relations between the workers and their clients explicit, thereby equalizing the client-worker
relationship. Additionally, it may entail giving clients powerful experiences or experiences that put
them in a position to exercise power. Offering voluntary work experiences that allow clients to use
their skills to help others can often be an empowering experience. Another approach may be to
support clients’ efforts to change policies or practices that impinge on their lives and the lives of
others. Such experiences can help people see the potential for power in their lives.
In other instances, an empowering perspective may involve simply focusing on the strengths
of the person, rather than on the “pathology” or what is wrong with the person. In all relationships,
it is generally acknowledged that constructive feedback and positive reinforcement is conducive to
helping people make positive changes in their lives. It is often more helpful for social workers to
guide their client’s focus towards the success they have achieved in the past rather than dwelling on
how they have been unsuccessful and dysfunctional.
An empowerment perspective is the key to good social work practice. And like other aspects
of good practice, it involves not a specific set of skills, but a general orientation on the part of the
worker. This orientation is based on helping clients identify their own needs and then helping them
to deal with the exigencies of their own particular situation.


social work goals and interventions. Underlying this philosophy is a set of values or beliefs about
how the world should be, rather than how the world really is. Important social work values include
acceptance of and respect for others and the right to self-determination. Social work values reflect
the diverse and often opposing beliefs of a pluralistic society and are strongly influenced by culture,
relationships, personal experience, individual perceptions, and other factors (Johnson, 1998;
Compton and Galaway, 1994).
The extent to which social work values are adhered to in practice is limited. For example, it
is important that social workers keep client information confidential. This is because without the
assurance that personal information will be kept private, clients will be reluctant to disclose much
information about themselves to a worker. Circumstances nevertheless arise that warrant a social
worker’s disclosure of client information without client authorization. For instance, social workers
can breach confidentiality to prevent a crime; to prevent clients from doing harm to themselves or to
others; when ordered by a court of law; when child abuse or neglect is suspected; or when
supervisors, support staff, agency volunteers, or others have an identified “need to know” (CASW,
1994b).
It is not always easy for social workers to know when to adhere to and when to deviate from
established social work values. In 1938 the Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)

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developed a social work code of ethics to help social workers make this kind of decision. The
primary purpose of a code of ethics “is to provide a practical guide for professional behavior and the
maintenance of a reasonable standard of practice within a given cultural context” (CASW, 1983, 2).
The CASW code was updated in 1983 and 1994.
SOCIAL WORK KNOWLEDGE
While values focus on what is preferred, desired, or good, knowledge is concerned with what is true
or false. Social work knowledge derives both from inside the social work profession and from other
disciplines. Knowledge that is produced indigenously by social workers is based on the shared

and then organized to form an overall picture of the client’s situation. In the planning and
contracting phase, the worker and client decide together what needs to be changed (perhaps a
behaviour, emotion, thought pattern, or environmental condition) and then establish a contract that
outlines the goals and objectives of the needed change and the types of strategies that will be used to

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effect the change. The intervention phase involves putting the plan into action, monitoring its
effectiveness, and modifying strategies as needed to achieve the goal. Toward the end of the
contract, the intervention is evaluated to determine its effectiveness, and the client-worker
relationship is eventually terminated. The planned change process does not always evolve in a linear
fashion; as new client needs or goals arise, certain phase may be repeated or deferred.
SOCIAL WORK SKILLS
Generalist social workers are trained to apply a wide range of practice skills in their work with
individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Three generic skill areas are essential
for generalist social work practice:
1) Interpersonal skills include communication and active listening skills, the ability to
build a working relationship with clients, and interviewing and counselling skills.
2) Process skills enable the worker to identify and assess client needs, plan and
implement appropriate interventions, make referrals, and develop more effective
methods for serving clients.
3) Evaluation and accountability skills demonstrate competency in evaluating
interventions and holding oneself accountable for one’s practice and behaviour
(Johnson, Schwartz, and Tate, 1997).
Social work skills can also be thought of in terms of the various roles the worker adopts.
Generalist social workers typically assume a wide range of roles. The role of broker involves
helping individuals and groups connect with needed programs and services in the community. An
advocate speaks or acts on behalf of a client who is having difficulty exercising his or her rights or

professions and specialists reduces options for clients and increases the potential
for harm.
At its worst, multiskilling may give staff unrealistic expectations about their ability to
perform tasks that are complex and thus better left to specialists.
PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
The Canadian Association of Social Workers was established in 1926 as a national federation of
provincial and territorial social work associations. At present, about 15,500 social workers are
registered with a provincial or territorial association (CASW, 2000).
According to its mission statement, the CASW (1994a, 2) “seeks to develop, promote,
support and maintain national professional standards of practice of the highest quality.” To meet this
end, the CASW sets certain standards and guidelines for social work practice in Canada and
participates in the development of social work regulation and legislation. The promotion of
standards and control is intended not only to protect clients and the general public from incompetent
of fraudulent practice, but also to legitimate the profession and its practice. Social workers are
expected to practise in accordance with the philosophy, purpose, and standards set by their
profession and to be accountable to their clients, their profession, and society.

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Exhibit 7.1
A COMPARISON OF THREE HELPING PROFESSIONS

SOCIAL WORK
PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHIATRY

education/information;
referral to community
resources
Behaviour
modification;
psychotherapy;
environmental
modification
Prescribe
psychotropic
medication;
psychotherapy;
biological treatments
Aim of
intervention
To help individuals,
families, and
communities understand
and solve personal and
social problems
To solve or prevent
behavioural, cognitive
and affective problems
To reduce
symptoms, change
behaviour, or
promote personality
growth
Specializations
Counselling, group work,

Psychological
Association
Canadian Psychiatric
Association

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UNIT 3

SOCIAL WORK WITH INDIVIDUALS

The helping process with individuals is sometimes called social casework, although this term
is used infrequently nowadays. A majority of social workers spend their time working with
individuals in private or public agencies or in private practice. Even though other types of social
work are increasing, the practice of social work with individuals still predominates.
Individual social work is aimed at helping people resolve their problems or situations on a
one-to-one basis, that is, helping unemployed people obtain work or training, providing protective
services for abused children, providing counselling for mental health, providing parole or probation
services, supplying services to the homeless and poor, co-ordinating services for people with AIDS
and co-ordinating discharge services for a person being released from hospital. All of us on
occasion find ourselves with problems that we cannot resolve alone. At times the help of a friend or
family member may be enough, but at other times the skilled help of a social worker is necessary.


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physician, hospital worker, police officer or school teacher. In such cases, families are often
uncooperative, especially if allegations of child abuse are reported.
In the intake step, the social worker acknowledges the client’s need for help, collects
information from the client, assesses the client’s problem or situation and, based on the agency’s
resources, determines if the social worker agency can help the client .In essence, when they first
meet ,both the worker and client want answers to specific questions. The applicant or potential
client wants to know: Can I get the help I need here? Can this person help me? How can I get the
help I need at this agency or with this person? The worker will ask: Can I help this person or would
it be more appropriate for someone else to help? How can I help this person?
 Assessment and planning
The assessment and planning step includes two processes. In the assessment process, the
social worker and the client analyze what help is needed based on the client’s ideas, thoughts and
feelings about the particular problem. Once the assessment is complete ,the social worker
formulates a plan designed to help the client with the particular problem. The plan is not set in stone
but provides an initial course of action.
Many social work textbooks describe a process that involves problem definition, data
collection and objective setting. This type of model flows more from a management or bureaucratic
approach to social work that stresses technical rationality. In this model, the worker knows best and
can rationally plan the optimal course of action. In this section, we are emphasizing a social work
process that stresses reflection-action-reflection in which the social worker continually thinks things
through while acting on the problem at hand. He or she adapts the intervention based on dialogue
and reflection on experiences of and feelings about past actions. Assessment is both a process and a
product of understanding on which action is based (Siporin 1975,219). It involves gathering relevant
information and developing an understanding. How a social worker selects information and how he
or she analyzes it is accomplished with reference to the assumptions that underlie a particular social
work model, and by one’s own experience of the world. In order to form a plan in the assessment
phase, the social worker also relies on other people who know the client personally. For example, in

worker. It involves asking for specific details about an event. Clarification often
becomes a reciprocal process between the social worker and client as each tries to
understand the true meaning of what the other is saying.
 Summarizing. This is skill is used in attempts to capture or pull together the most
important aspects of the problem or situation. It provides focus for the next interview
and can assist in planning. Both the feelings and content of the client’s message
should be used. It is also useful when the social worker believes that it is time to move
on to another topic.
 Information giving. Without overwhelming people with too much information at one
time, the social worker often shares information about resources in the community
(e.g., women’s shelters) or information that shows that the client is not alone in
experiencing the problem. Be sure the client realizes that they can refuse the
information, and provide pamphlets or brochures where possible.
 Interpretation. This skill enables the social worker to delve into the presented problem
and “read between the lines.” The worker’s insights may help the client develop a
deeper understanding of what is really going on, and not just what appears to be
happening. It may provide an alternative way of looking at the problem or a new
frame of reference. Always check both verbal and non-verbal responses of the client
to your interpretation.
 Consensus building. Consensus building attempts to work out agreement on what
should be done to address the problem. It may be easily attained or there may be
discrepancies between what a client says they want and their behaviour, or between
separate messages given by a client. Confrontation may be used to challenge a client
to examine such discrepancies. It should be non-adversarial and respectful and used
only when a safe and trusting relationship has developed.
Planning is based on sets of decisions made by the worker and the client that are shaped by
the worker’s analysis of the information collected in the assessment phase. The planned actions may
be at a wide variety of levels: individual, environmental, multi-person, systemic or structural. For
example, they might involve therapeutic, educational and social action-oriented approaches. What
frequently varies between practice models is the focus of attention. A behaviour therapy approach

 adjusts the intervention based on the client’s information; and
 helps the client to resolve the problem or situation by providing new knowledge and
skills that assist in solving the problem.
The intervention phase should focus on creating a dialogue between the client and worker
and perhaps others who are implicated in the situation being addressed. There will always be jumps,
hesitations, uncertainties and half-formed ideas. In situation where the uncertainties are large or
numerous, it would be advisable to take small cautious steps and then reflect on the experience. This
opens up the possibility of enhancing an understanding of the important elements in the situation
and altering the course of action.
 Evaluation and Termination
In this final step, evaluation and termination, the client and the social worker together to
assist the client to achieve a resolution to the original problem or situation, and to prevent the
situation from occurring again. In this step, the social worker evaluates the following elements of
the intervention with the client and the social work supervisor:
 the choice of the intervention;
 the length of the intervention;
 the frequency of their meetings;
 the outcomes;
 the need for any follow-up; and

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 when to terminate the intervention - in most cases, the decision to terminate the
relationship is mutually agreed upon by the client and the social worker.
Evaluation is an ongoing part of the social work process, aimed at determining whether the
goals and needs of the client are being met. Evaluation should identify the rationale for the action
chosen, whether or not needs were met, the expected and unexpected effects and alternative courses
of action that may need to be taken.


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UNIT 4

SOCIAL WORK WITH GROUPS

Social work with groups has its historical roots informal, recreational groups such as those
organized by the YWCA, the YMCA, settlement houses, scouting organizations, and more recently,
in self-help groups. Settlement houses are frequently credited with providing the roots for group
work. Today, most social agencies do some kind of group work, including recreation, education,
socialization and therapy.
When deciding between individual or group intervention, a social worker must consider
which method would be most effective. In some cases, group work may be the most appropriate and
least costly mode of intervention. Group work may be more appropriate in cases where the problem
lies within group systems, such as families or peer groups. In other cases, a problem may be dealt
with by a group of people experiencing a similar problem. For example, a group of abused women
make be able to relate to one another and share a common experience, thereby overcoming feelings
that the abuse was somehow their own fault. Group work may also be appropriate when addressing

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group: treatment groups and task groups. She also quotes Toseland and Rivas (1995,14) as they
differentiate between the two types:
The term treatment group is used to signify a group whose major purpose is to meet member’s socio-
emotional needs … In contrast, the term task group is used to signify any group in which the major
purpose is neither intrinsically nor immediately linked to the needs of the members of the group. In
task groups, the overriding purpose is to accomplish a mandate and complete the work for which the
group was convened.
Treatment groups gather for the purpose of meeting the therapeutic objectives of the group
members. Individuals work as a group to address problems that they experience personally. The
three types of treatment groups are family or household groups, therapy groups and self-help or peer
groups.
 Family or household groups consist of family or household members. They may be
members of the opposite or same sex, with or without children. Family group work or
counselling is most effective when the issues that need to be addressed require
interaction between family members.
 Therapy groups consist of individuals who do not share a household together or have
any kind of relationship with one another outside the group setting. They are people
seeking individual assistance. Interaction in a group environment is merely part of the
therapy for the individual members. The group has no purpose outside of its
therapeutic objectives.
 Self-help or peer groups consist of people who have similar problems or interests
and believe that working and interacting together will provide opportunities for all the
group members to grow and change. A social worker may or may not guide the group.
 Group Work Intervention: Tasks and Group Phases
Successful group work intervention involves an understanding of group intervention tasks
and the stages of group development. Group workers need to be aware of the group intervention
tasks necessary to help maintain and guide a group. In a group, the tasks take place in a group
context and therefore generally pass through identifiable stages of development. Often the specific
social work interventions or tasks are most effective at particular group development stages.

previously in the discussion of intervention with individuals. Often, social workers are
working with “the multi-person client,” such as a family. The focus is often on issues
around group interaction and communication.
 Conflict resolution. While not always identified as a group work task, conflict
resolution is increasingly a task of social workers (especially in child welfare, family
therapy and international human rights work). The core elements include defining it as
a group (rather than an individual) problem, listening to the different points of view
and seeking to draw out common ground. The aim is to create a “win-win” situation
and encourage co-operation.
 Group Work Intervention Steps
The steps for social work with groups are similar to those for work with individuals except
that they involve groups of people.
 Intake. During intake, the social worker acknowledges the client’s need, collects
information from the client (for example, self-referral or referral by someone in the
community), assesses the client’s situation and his or her capacity and motivation to
change, and determines the agency’s capacity to help the client by using any type of
group that it has available.
 Assessment and planning. The worker completes preliminary assessment of the
client’s situation or problem, provides a potential group process intervention plan and
proposes a potential group to the client or adds the client’s name to a waiting list.
 Group intervention. In working with groups, the social worker may do any of the
following:
- help the group to find common ground in terms of the issues they wish to deal
with;
- anticipate obstacles to the group work experience and bring them to the
group’s attention;
- educate the group, providing information and support thought to be useful to
the group;

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UNIT 5

SOCIAL WORK WITH COMMUNITIES

Social work with a community (or community work, as it is usually called) is often either not
addressed in social work texts or is limited to a few pages at the back. Students are left with little
knowledge of what community work is and often feel that it is too complex or too abstract for them

is composed of people in a specific geographic area who share common interests or
reconcilable differences. Organizations involved in locality development may include
overseas development programs, neighbourhood workers and consultants to
community development teams. Historically, settlement houses were of this type.

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 Social planning. When individuals plan and gather data about problems in order to
choose the most rational course of action, they are engaged in social planning. The
focus is on rational, deliberately planned and controlled change. Social planning
involves people in the community to varying degrees, depending on the nature of the
problem. The approach focuses on gathering information about problems and making
rational decisions for change. The change strategy may seek consensus of may
acknowledge conflict. Social planning focuses more heavily on gathering information
than on changing the system. This model’s definition of community is functional and
may include a segment of a community in which the people are clients of particular
problem. The client population are considered to be consumers or recipients. Typical
organizations may include social planning councils, welfare groups of government-
sponsored organizations.
 Social action. Social action organizes disadvantaged groups in the community to re-
distribute power, resources decision making. It involves the disadvantaged segments
of a community, those in need of more resources or improved facilities, in accord with
social justice or democracy. The change strategy is to work with a community to
investigate and identify issues and to organize people to take action against groups
who are exploiting or oppressing the disadvantaged groups. It can involve conflict,
confrontation, direct action or negotiation. Social action is concerned with the shifting
of power relationships and resources and sees issues as revolving around conflicting
interests, which may not easily reconciled. Typical social action initiatives include

work can be immensely satisfying as a main area of work, and a working knowledge of it is
essential for anyone who wishes to become a well-rounded and effective social work practitioner.
 Virtual community work
Today, the Internet makes it possible of community workers and activists to expand their
networks by identifying and contacting people in other communities who have similar interests and
concerns. This could be loosely referred to as a kind of virtual community work. Its importance
should not be minimized.
By joining the appropriate Internet-based discussion lists and news groups, social workers
can identify and communicate with people in other communities who are working on similar issues.
By sharing information, strategies and advice, the effectiveness of efforts may be enhanced. For
example, human rights workers have dramatically improved the effectiveness of Urgent Action
work to call attention to human rights violations by spreading the news via the Internet. As well,
Jubilee 2000, a global movement for Third World debt relief was organized primarily using Internet
communication. A social worker in the community work field can be certain that there is a group on
the Internet with similar interests. And, as globalization increasingly affects our economy and the
nature of social issues, there is growing importance in connecting with other groups and individuals.
Social workers worldwide are beginning to use the Internet to organize and mobilize on
behalf of disadvantaged groups in society. These individuals are turning to the Internet as a way to
connect with each other, learn from each other and challenge what they see as injustices in society.
Grassroots activists are finding that they can interact on the Internet without the restrictions
normally associated with official social services agencies. Social workers are using the Internet to
connect not only with those in distant areas of Canada but with like-minded people in other
countries. The new communications technology has opened up possibilities for conducting social
work more effectively, and knowledge of this technology will be increasingly important to social
workers in the future.
 Community Work Intervention Steps
The worker will take the following steps for social work with a community
 Entry
The entry step is comparable to the intake step of the social work relationship with
individuals. In this step the community usually consults a community worker about its

- document and analyze the community in order to determine who the stakeholders are
or what the distribution of power is (major/minor stakeholders/powerholders);
- determine how community needs can be met;
- ask how the community will evaluate the intervention; and
- propose a plan and ask how the community will react to the proposed intervention
plan
In recent years, community social workers have become somewhat concerned with
research itself as a social process and have begun to question the role of the “independent”
researcher. In this context, some social workers have found the idea of participatory research
to be useful (see the discussion on participatory action research above, on page 83). Here,
research is conducted not only by the social worker but includes the direct participation of
the community members. Certainly this can be an effective way to do research information
communities, and it may, in some cases, be the only way.
As with other aspects of community work, the type of research that would work best
in any particular situation needs to be evaluated and discussed with the community. In some
cases, the best arrangement might be a conventional study; in others, a participatory model;
and in still others, some combination of the two.
 Goal Setting
The social worker brainstorms with the community to establish goals, evaluates the
goals in terms of their feasibility, sets priorities with the community and provides education
to community members. Again, the maximum participation of community members from all
social levels is critical.
 Action Planning
The social worker, working with members of the community, creates an action plan.
The plan will include action steps, implementation steps, monitoring and evaluation steps,
and re-planning steps. Generally the plan should be a participatory process and may include:
- what action or change will occur;
- who will carry it out;

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have been timed inappropriately or the actions were too infrequent or not carried through
thoroughly. Revisions to strategy are frequently necessary. Action-evaluation-action is a
cycle that allows the worker and the community to change tactics. The central indicator for
evaluating success is, of course, whether your efforts have created the change you desired. Tiếng Anh Chuyên Ngành

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UNIT 6

SOCIAL WELFARE: PROMOTING CHANGE

INTRODUCTION
The primary of all social welfare programs is to change conditions that threaten individual and/ or
social functioning. To achieve this goal, a type of intervention must be applied. In the social welfare
context, the tem intervention refers to strategies, techniques, and methods that are used to help
individuals, families, communities, or other social sytems change. Interventions vary depending on
the nature of the problem and size of the sytem that needs to be changed. The change process may
involve either (1) helping people change or adapt to their environment; or (2) changing the

the delivery of service.

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 Macro-level change takes place at the community level and seeks to change social
conditions. Collective action is uasualy required at this level of change, since the systems
for which change is sought are typically complex and well-established.
Exhibit 8.1 illustrates the relationship between the three levels and gives examples of interventions
for each level.
This chapter examines social welfare programs and services that are designed to promote
change at the micro and macro levels. Mezzo-level change was covered in the discussion of
intraorganizational change in Chapter 6.
CHANGE AT THE MICRO LEVEL: PROGRAMS AND SERVICES
THE NATURE OF MICRO-LEVEL CHANGE
Social welfare services that focus on micro-level change are aimed at helping individuals, families,
and small groups to obtain “the basics they need to survive, subsist, develop, and even flourish
within society” (Kahn, 1995, 571). One advantage of such programs is that their limited focus
increases the likelihood that needs will be successfully identified and met. One disadvantage is that
change at the micro level rarely addresses the root causes of social problems. For example, as Kahn
(1995, 571) points out, a food bank that provides food for hungry individuals will.
ensure that, on a given day, a given number of people are fed. But it cannot and does not
address the question of why these people are hungry. If the soup kitchen closes, the people it
serves will again be hungry.

Despite their limitations, programs that attempt to effect change at the micro level are needed
continue to be a primary emphasis of many socialwelfare agencies.
PROGRAMS FOR INDIVIDUALS
Programs that are designed for individual are rooted in the social casework approach, which

organization, such as a school, court, welfare department;
4) difficulties in role performance – problems in carrying out a particular social role,
such as that of spouse, parent, student, employee, patien;
5) decision problems – problems of uncertainty, such as what to do in a particular
situation;
6) reactive emotional distress – conditons in which the client’s major concern is with
feelings, such as anxiety and depression, rather than with the situation that may have
given riseto them.
7) inadequate resources - lack of tangible resources, such as money, housing, food,
transportation, child care, a job. (Epstein, 1980, 178 – 179)

Depending on their particular discipline, service providers use a variety of techniques to help
individuals deal with these and other issues. Interventions that focus on changing individuals may
be based on one or more of a wide range of counselling models, including psychoanalysis, client-
centred therapy, gestalt therapy, transactional analysis, behaviour therapy, feminist therapy, rational
therapy, feminist therapy, rational therapy, and reality therapy.
FAMILY SERVICES
As a primary social unit, the family is responsible for procreating, nurturing, and protecting
children, socializing individual members into the larger society, and linking its members to other
social institutions. If a family is unableto complete these tasks adequately, its members may seek
help from family service agencies.
The origin of family services in Canada can be traced in part to the development of the
Canadian Patriotic Fund (CPF) during World War 1. To achieve its goal of “maintaining the home
life” CPF workers provided support and supervision for large numbers of families who were
temporarily without fathers because of the war. Strong-Boag (1979, 25) comments on the likely
effect to the CPF: “It seems very probable that the good results that the CPF demonstrated in
improved school attendance, better housekeeping, lessened mortality and increased family stability
helped further other efforts to shore up the nuclear family as the best guarantor of social order.
In the 1920s and 1930s, family casework emerged as a more scientific approach to helping
families. In their provision of services, family caseworkers set out “to reinforce and strengthen the


Did you know that across Canada family resource program offer:
 support groups of parents
 prenatal programs
 well-baby programs
 drop-in programs
 playgroups
 toy-lending programs
 clothing, toy, and equiqment exchanges
 resource library materials
 “warm-liens” (telephone service offering noncrisis support and information)
 referrals and liaison with other community services
 peer counselling and professional counselling
 crisis intervention