PETER SCHULTZ – VITA NOVA PRETORIA

As Social Worker in Private Practice, I am registered with the South-African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP), the South African Association for Social Workers in Private Practice (SAASWIPP) as well as the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF).

I have always been very inquisitive about human behaviour and to understand more about peoples’ feelings, thinking and behaviour. This led to my ongoing involvement in studying human behaviour and the development of several different programmes and training courses to provide a service to enhance individual, family, and community functioning.

My passion is to work with families. Being married for 45 years and the father of two children and three grandchildren, emphasizes the importance of building strong foundations in our relationships. I believe all behaviour to be functional, irrespective of whether it is constructive or not, and when people request assistance, I understand this to be due to them no longer being able to manage their life circumstances in a meaningful way. For this reason, I choose to follow a solution-focused approach in working with people, where we discuss ways to deal with the issues at hand, together.

WORKING WITH COUPLES

In working with couples, I recognize each person as a unique individual. Whether I first see the couple together or the individuals separately, it is important for me to make a proper assessment of their understanding and feelings about their situation, their insights, and abilities to address the issue at hand, their motivation for change as well as how they perceive the outcome of any professional inputs. We discuss this information before we agree on how we attempt to proceed. All concerns, stumbling blocks, strengths, appropriate community resources, practical issues of time, transport, and finances as well as issues of confidentiality, transparency, and consent and how this may impact the way forward, are considered.

WORKING WITH PARENTS

Children, especially teenagers, by default, and sometimes deliberately, test boundaries – that is how they learn about life and about themselves. Parents’ responsibility is to address the “tests” AND primarily build or sustain relationship with their children on this family venture.

In working with parents, I first obtain all relevant information from one or both parents, informing their request for assistance. The programme focuses on parenting styles, their attachment styles, their roles in the home, emotional connection, and communication with their child, dealing with the child’s “problem” behaviour and parental selfcare. Sessions are personal, practical, and task-orientated and supported by information handouts.

WORKING WITH ADDICTION

During my many years of working as a social worker, I have become increasingly involved in working with addiction, particularly with substance use disorder and related problems. This has become an area of specialization for me, especially in assisting the partner or family living with substance abuse.

Lately persons become increasingly addicted to prescribed medications and internet including social media. The reason we become addicted is often related to addressing our emotional or social discomfort; to compensate for our underlying pain. Addictive behaviour is at first always functional. Over time, often without being aware of it, we increase this behaviour, it becomes riskier and more harmful. Stopping this behaviour means we must face the world and ourselves head on; we must break up the bond we have established with a very reliable “friend” (the drug/behaviour) who has stood by us for a long period of time.

Living with a partner with addiction proves to be extremely stressful. Constant arguments and a partner’s spells of aggression and abuse, which is often related to the addiction, contributes to high degrees of anger, feelings of fear, hurt, abandonment, guilt and hopelessness, feelings which eventually end in emotional detachment from such partner. All their attempts at helping are in vain; crying pleading, threats, leaving him/her, etc. Eventually they start neglecting their own well-being. The partner therefore needs assistance as a person in his or her own right.

My approach in assisting people caught up in addiction is both client-centred and solution focused. I start with an assessment of the situation and agree to see addicted persons and family members individually or together as required. I network with other role-players when required, including medical practitioners, treatment facilities and support groups. Strict confidentiality and transparency towards the client are always upheld.

ASSISTING CLIENTS WITH TRAUMA

We are all from time to time confronted with traumatic events. Some traumas can take the form of sudden unexpected events leaving us emotionally exposed and vulnerable. We find ourselves struggling with putting our lives back together again. Assisting with specific incident trauma, assistance takes the form of a practice-based debriefing process. This is a very supportive and concrete way in addressing trauma.

But some of us experience trauma over a long term, either during childhood or as adults. Experiences of abuse and shame may lead to delayed or unresolved trauma. This exposure to historical or long-term traumatic incidents, are addressed by cognitive behaviour therapy in terms of Traumatic Incident Reduction.

In assisting people with trauma, I acknowledge that the traumatic events cannot be undone. We cannot change what happened in the past, but we CAN try and live a more manageable life.