Advanced Rural Generalist

The term ‘Advanced Rural Generalist’ describes a specialist who has advanced training in broad areas of social services with emphasis on ‘the person in the environment’, client systems, and community systems theories within a rural culture.

The generalist practitioner

The generalist practitioner is expected to have the skills necessary to advocate for the individual client, group, or community in securing needed resources.

The advanced generalist practitioner is expected to to advocate for the community at a macro level by meeting with individual clients, groups, or community leaders in the development of long term resources and identifying and removing systemic barriers to services, in order to meet broader needs of individuals, groups, or community systems. The generalist rural practitioner is expected to advocate for the individual client, group, or community in the securing of needed resources within the culture of a rural setting.

The advanced rural generalist practitioner

The advanced rural generalist practitioner is expected to advocate for the community at a macro level by meeting with individual clients, groups, or community leaders in the development of long term resources and identifying and removing systemic barriers, in order to meet the long term needs of individuals, groups, or community systems within the culture of a rural setting.

Rural and Urban

The concepts of rural and urban may so elusive and changing that a clear understanding between any two individuals may be difficult to achieve. To the person raised in a large city, being rural might mean a place surrounded by cattle, horses, and open fields. To someone raised in a small city, it might mean a country home along side a stream or lake with chickens in the yard, rural mail carriers, and telephone party lines. To the displaced city-dweller living in what most would consider the country, rural may describe the backwoods neighbors who are occasionally seen at the hardware store wearing farm-hand clothing. To the farmer, rural might mean simply proximity to farmland, regardless of how close the land is to a large city. Despite these variances most people agree that there are at least some unique differences in values, priorities, and general approaches to life between the two groups. Some of these differences are discussed.

Value differences

There is an intuitive sense as well as a popular belief that the values of rural residents may be different as a group from those of their urban counterparts. In rural areas, connections between family members, church members, neighbors, business acquaintances, and friends are often given a higher priority or value, reflecting the notion of social capital as a precious commodity. The rural individual may view the collection of additional relationships and community contacts as a desired goal in overcoming feelings of isolation, and consequently, comes to the position of holding dear all social contacts.

Community

There is more participation in civic functions. There is a stronger sense of how each person’s welfare may affect the whole, resulting in greater levels of commitment to the general welfare of the community. Rural communities also tend to apply strong social sanctions to people who don't reciprocate in helping one another or who do not participate in the social life of the community. And trust is often more important than the issues being discussed.

Rural issues to consider:

Social capital is it related to proximity or distance is it related to religion and church frequency is it related to personal history or rural

background do years in rural settings impact more or is it

the early years as rural that has more influence

Relationship basis

It may be the dyad influence, that there must be a relationship to start or base the concept upon.

When, where, how is the rural relationships based. Is it community vs individual based? The concept of the hospitality greeter is important to consider. Who starts the tone of a friendly community? Look at the evolution between community being family vs. a neighborhood of unrelated people. How quickly can a neighborhood adjust to new faces and how does transience impact the willingness to accept others into the fold.

Transience affects

What is the impact of school, new teachers, and transfer students, immigrants who come and go, look at the ‘seminary’ concept or military bases? How transience adjusts the level of commitment to others among rural populations. Mineral Wells would be a good place to look. Presence of a university in a rural setting also would be a good place to look. How does social capital ‘work’ on university campuses?

Environment

Rural vs Urban are general issues to consider. They are never static. They are dynamic and pose a complex set of values that changed from generation to generation. Though some of these ‘differences’ are difficult to pin down and can be confused with stereotyping, they are pervasive enough to consider in assessing a family in ‘the environment’. I’m sure some you will recognize, some may be new to you, and some may seem out of sync with your own experience of East Texas .

Isolation

Distance from one another: Isolation The national model of child abuse provision includes 24 hour access to trained staff, 24 hour foster care, 24 hour protective in home care, 24 hour emergency day care, protective day care, counseling, supervised visitation, foster group homes, residential treatment, etc. In a rural area day care is just not cost effective and it is not offered in most places.

Family is private

Stay out of my business or I will shoot you.

Dealing with the east Texas family can be a throw-back in time. There is an Appalachia feeling of the family’s business being sacred and not open to any one. Texas in particular has a culture that says that the individual is responsible for him or herself and should not expect, look for, and actually resist out side help, that it is a form of weakness to accept help from others. This makes it doubly difficult for the practitioner to develop a working relationship with the family, as much suspicion must be overcome as well as guilt at even ‘needing someone’ to come help them or help them gain access to needed resources.

Racism/sex roles

Racism or racial attitude/sex roles: Rural Areas often track behind urban areas in race relations. Often the access to diversity is limited and the level of diversity is more fixed. People tend to know each other in certain roles that may remain static throughout their lives. The postman is the same postman for 30 yrs. The insurance man is the same man for my grandfather. People have a place to put people and change or flexibility is slow and difficult in coming.

Staffing Issues

Staffing can be a problem. social services does not pay well thus most areas are resigned to finding staff from the community. These workers often carry the same bias that the community feels such as ‘it is a sign of weakness to need help’ and thus come to the point of offering help expecting some resentment from the client, or even some patronizing affects toward the client that shows their disrespect for the client for needed such services.

Funding quirks

Funding: Rural work faces statistical problems in funding. In Texas as well as most states there is a ‘capitation’ issue at work in setting funding. Our 15 county region has continuously grown each year since 1982. In 1982 it received 5.85 % of the state’s overall budget for operation of the Child Abuse program. It is based primarily on child population, though during some of the 80’s it included numbers of reports of child abuse as well. Since 1982 the percentage of the total budget has continued to drop to 3.45% of the state’s budget. Regions in the Valley, Metro Plex, and Houston have grown appreciably more percentage wise than here. For instance, Tyler county is the fastest growing county in Texas, over 100% in the past 10 yrs, but the population is still such that it cannot impact the total of these large population centers. Thus as long as funding is based on population, rural areas will always face a losing battle in terms of allocated dollars. this includes staff dollars as well as contract dollars.

Law Enforcement Issues

Law enforcement: Very unsophisticated in terms of staff (starting salary of the local sheriff’s office is 17,500 per year. City PD is more, but not much. hard to attract professional level officers for that much money, so who do you get in your application pool. Often there is little difference between the enforcer and the violator.

District Attorney/Court

District Attorney’s office: relatively low salaries and the low volume both contribute to a very low level of sophistication in legal work. very few cases are ever handled by an attorney in child abuse thus there is very limited knowledge and skill development in this area of the law. On the other side, the sophistication of the defense side is equally limited and that of the judge is limited as well. It makes for a difficult setting, where often the CPS staff is light years ahead of the rest of the court officers in knowledge of legal procedures an requirements. The CPS workers role becomes a dual one, worker, quasi attorney, protector of parents rights, children’s rights and agency all rolled together.

Local Resources Local resources: In an urban community most often there

are several different non-profit agencies that offer social services to the needy. A referral for counseling is just a phone call, as is day care, food, rent, clothing, medical services and transportation is either low cost or free. (Community health clinics will reimburse with bus tokens) In a rural area, transportation is a critical problem, but then even with transportation, the need for social services is so spread out that there are very few or no social service providers in a rural county. Many counties have a ‘sharing post’, goodwill, or similar store but transportation is a problem. housing is virtually not available for the working poor, due to the waiting list. up to 18 months in some areas. Energy assistance is available, though transportation is often a problem. Phone services are not always easily available which limits access to services.

Salary and Education

Salary is usually higher for jobs in rural area. Education and skills often put employee in a

higher (relatively speaking ) group. They are more easily assimilated into the professional community. In court in a rural area a worker with a few years of experience will be accepted as an expert vs in an urban area an advanced degree might be required.

Supervision and Roles

Less direct supervision, need for more autonomy and responsibility.

Roles are more fixed, the judge, sheriff, social worker at the hospital may be the same for the next 20yrs.

Requires the worker to be more generic. Specialization is a luxury.

Higher community profile. The worker may be the most educated and the highest paid in a given community.

The rural worker is one of a few than one of many. Making someone mad at you or getting cross ways with someone can have much more permanent outcomes.

Values and Ethics in AGP

Unique values; How does isolation promote unique values? Consider social isolation vs. physical isolation? Where might one be more socially isolated? Physically isolated? Why? In a rural farming community, what does isolation mean? In Bowling Alone, the absence or presence of social contacts and their strength or weakness is reflected in the social relationships that exists.