1. English Writing for SW – related to case work service Ivan Yau

2. Some considerations Must relate to purpose / types of documents Common types: minute, case file, correspondence, report, proposal, … Focus of this training workshop: case work service related documents

3. Related Documents Intake Report Daily Activity Record Case Assessment Summary Periodic / Progress / Closing Summaries Correspondence / Report & Recommendation

4. File Management Organizing by different threads Minutes – communication with supervisor Index and Enclosure – copies of in & out documents, supporting documents (with dated received) Fact Sheet / Intake / Record of activities / Summaries / … Personal brief notes (optional)

5. Basic Rule Before writing anything, it is always useful to thing about: 1.Who read this? 2.On what conditions? 3.For what purposes?

6. SW Students’ Difficulties Lexical choice – vocabulary Grammatical choice – verb tense Organizing ideas and integrating different sources of information Distinguishing between facts and interpertation

7. Daily Activity Record Regular routine work and mainly serves for accountability purpose. Usually record the outcome and essential facts, not the process! Pay attention to cases in crisis. Don’t put unnecessary details in this.

8. Daily Activity Record Usually basic and essential facts are summarized in first few contacts, which serve the main content for Case Assessment Summary. Afterwards, just keep notes on case progress and facts about case development.

9. Some Useful Tips (DAR) Ensure the reader won’t misunderstand the ‘Pronouns’. Comment / Judgment must be supported by facts. Avoid description of ‘Personality’.

10. Some Useful Tips (DAR) Use ‘Simple Sentence’ as far as you could. Accurate and Concise. Grammar is relatively less important. Point-form is usually acceptable.

11. Some Useful Tips (DAR) Case in High Risk 1.Frequently update as far as you could 2.Risk Assessment – clarify the source of information, demonstrate SW competency 3.Action Taken and Client’s Response, including safety plan and discussion with supervisor.

12. Case Assessment Summary Think about what supervisor is looking for…? A general idea of the problem to work on. Brief background information. Risk, Goal and Action Plan

13. Case Assessment Summary What are your theoretical assumptions? How detailed information required? Problem Specification and Target Problem Rating (TPR) Goal – a general direction for intervention

14. Insights from Fisch R. Defining the problem from clients and perspective. Getting minimal information about the problem that is sufficient to work on.