Introduction

Practically all human beings live in some kind of society. Each society relies on each person within it carrying out a range of functions. If, for example, every worker in the UK decided on their own not to go to work tomorrow, the result would be chaos. If every parent decided they no longer were prepared to look after their children, society would rapidly collapse. If every person who had debts simply decided not to pay them, the economy would fail. If every driver decided to make up their own mind what the rules of the road are, the roads would be in gridlock. In so many ways, society only works because the vast majority of people agree to do what is needed to keep the system going.

However, for a wide variety of reasons, some people struggle to carry out their social functions. People are affected by sudden and serious ill health may not be able to look after themselves. Some parents treat their children in ways that fall far short of what we expect of a parent in society. People break the law and cause harm to others.

Within the Maintenance Model, these are the people who need a social worker, they need someone who will help them maintain their position in society, and so help maintain society as a whole.

What Social Workers Do

Under the Maintenance Model, the role of social work is to identify those people who are not adequately fulfilling their social roles; to analyse why that is happening and to develop interventions that will help them return to a state where they can function in society.

What Theories Do They Use

Probably the main theory/model that social workers use when they are operating from the Maintenance Model is Task-Centred Practice. This can be seen from the earliest days of the approach where Reid and Epstein describe the approach as a “system of time-limited treatments for problems of living” (p.1). Payne (1997), building Reid’s work, outlines a range of situations where Task-Centred Practice may be appropriate, and these largely focused on being able to function in society.

The Maintenance Model also uses Crisis Intervention, as one of the key principles of crisis theory is that a crisis is any event in which a person faces a challenge which is perceived to be beyond their current coping strategies. This will usually mean times when the person’s usual ways of functioning are no longer sufficient to cope with the challenges of daily living. The goal of Crisis Intervention is to get the person back on track as quickly and as effectively as possible.

In addition, the Maintenance Model is likely to make use of Ecological-Systemic theories, in that it will locate the person’s problems within a wider social context, and will aim to use resources from the wider network to help the person return to their usual level of functioning. These models may be supported by a wider range of models that can be used as appropriate to achieve the goal of helping the person meet the demands of their various social roles.

Key Theorists

As mentioned already, Reid and Epstein are key theorists, along with Marsh and Doel, as these writers are strongly influential in the Task-Centred Model. More directly, Martin Davis was a strong advocate of the Maintenance Model, especially in the book “The Essential Social Worker” Although more often associated with the Radical Model, because of his emphasis on Anti-Discriminatory Practice, a lot of Neil Thompson’s work falls within this area, such as “People Problems” and the “People Solutions Sourcebook.”

Created by M. Allenby Last updated by M. Allenby 12.1.21