Social Work

Walter
Needs Assessment Plan
A needs assessment is the process of establishing and addressing the breaches between the
existing circumstances and the future desires or needs. It involves adequately examining the
discrepancy between the present situation and the future conditions to efficiently determine the
need. The plan lays bare the detailed proposal for achieving a successful needs assessment.
Potential Program
Tutty & Rothery (2010) posits that Needs Assessments usually focus on the needs that limit the
normal functioning of individuals in essential areas of their lives. The organization right for this
task is Crest View Recovery Center, located in Asheville, North Carolina. Crest View Recovery
Centre is a rehabilitation organization that offers guidance in the path towards sobriety. It
focuses on rehabilitating individuals suffering from substance addiction and those who are
partially mentally affected. The organization offers different treatment programs, therapies, and
post-treatment services to the affected persons. However, the specific program of focus is the
Self-Management and Recovery Technology (SMART). SMART refers to an intervention that
has an essential function that aids the recovery in people with psychotic disorders, for instance,
schizoaffective disorder. The recovery technology employs appropriate psychological principles
that incorporate several approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, as stated by Kelly et
al. (2017). Majorly SMART covers unmet needs because there are several cases of substance
addiction in American society and inadequate post-treatment to the affected individuals.
The Unmet Need and the Supporting Information of Warranty
A needs assessment is essential for the affected persons and the interventions required to run the
program and achieve an effective and successful long-term post-treatment. The best fit
individuals are located through referrals. The referrals come from healthcare practitioners and
review of society case list. Additionally, the Crest View Recovery Center advertises its services
through print media and social media (Beck et al., 2017). In the recent past, qualitative research
was carried out to establish the advantages and disadvantages of using SMART in major
substance addiction rehabilitation centers. SMART therapy is a randomized controlled
superiority trial among two groups using an allocation ratio of 1:1, according to Beck et al.
(2017). The two cohorts receive eight intervention sessions, with the first group getting their
recovery intervention from a mental health worker, and the second group is put through a
befriending intervention as a rationale to the first group. All these happen in a three-month
window while the patients are still subjected to the usual routine care. A needs assessment
identifies the barriers within the rehabilitation centers in receiving the desired treatment,
especially when it comes to post-treatment.
Sources of Information for the Needs Assessment and the Potential Informants
Obtaining information for the Needs Assessment would involve conducting interviews,
observing the daily services, organizing the public forum, and administrating questionnaires. In
the case of need assessment, one major source of information will be the clients receiving the
psychosocial needs at the recovery center. The clients here are aware of their needs and if the
treatment is primary in their path to sobriety. Moreover, the caregivers, such as clinicians who
offer the therapy to the addicts, act as an information source because they offer the treatment
services and, therefore, are better positioned to understand the client’s needs in their journey
towards recovery. Both the clients and the caregivers serve as valuable sources.
Obtaining Credible and Unbiased Information
In obtaining credible information in the Needs Assessment, the participants are significant to the
program’s success. The steps include setting search considerations, accessing the relevant
websites, organizing the selected information, examining the information obtained, and then
providing a report of the selected information, according to Dudley (2020). Through using these
steps, the information obtained regarding the Needs Assessment would be credible and
satisfactory.
References
Beck, A. K., Forbes, E., Baker, A. L., Kelly, P. J., Deane, F. P., Shakeshaft, A., … & Kelly, J. F.
(2017). Systematic Review of SMART Recovery: outcomes, process variables, and
implications for research. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 31(1), 1.
Dudley, J. R. (2020). Social work evaluation: Enhancing what we do. Oxford University
Press, USA.
Kelly, P. J., Raftery, D., Deane, F. P., Baker, A. L., Hunt, D., & Shakeshaft, A. (2017). From
both sides: Participant and facilitator perceptions of SMART Recovery groups. Drug
and alcohol review, 36(3), 325-332.
Tutty, L. & Rothery, M. (2010). Needs assessments. In The handbook of social work research
methods (pp. 149-162). SAGE Publications, Inc.,
https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781544364902