Focused Attention Paper

Focused attention is when clinicians provide meaningful communication with their clients (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). We listen so that we can understand what our clients is saying so that we can understand them better. There are many times when a clinician can become distracted. Psychological attending not letting things that we worry about distract us (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). Clinicians need to be physical attending to their clients. The book suggested to be psychical attending to a client one needs sit squarely, have an open posture, lean forward, use eye contact and relax (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). People may perceive these physical attending in different ways. For example, one could see the social workers posture as reassuring and caring and

Physical appearance refers to what the client looks like. One should not use these assumptions to judge their client because these assumptions are often wrong. Another nonverbal communication is body posture (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). The book states that body posture can tell a clinician a lot about how a client is feeling (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). Another form of nonverbal communication is gestures (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). Many people use their hands when they talk. Learning to interpret and pay attention to hand movements can help a social worker understand how their client is feeling. Another form of nonverbal communication is facial expression (Murphy & Dillon, 2008). Facial expression can be expressed in a verity of ways. For example, can been seen when one purses their lips, smiles, and many other ways. It’s important for a clinician to pay attention to facial expression because the way that a client reacts facial about a topic can tell one a lot about how the client is feeling. Not only can nonverbals be seen with the client the clinician also needs to be aware of what nonverbals they are exhibiting. It is also important that different cultures have different ways of expressing nonverbal communication (Murphy & Dillon,