This assignment will give a reflective account of two main communication skills that are important for relationship-based practice in social work. Relationship based practice is important in social work, this establishes a positive relationship with professionals and service users. In agreement of Carl Rogers (2012) and Threvithick (2012) it is vital to establish relationship based practice because it demonstrates social workers are trustworthy and dependable, this will enable the service users feel more confident to disclose information, be more open rather than distrustful and taking all the support in consideration rather than being wary. Relationship based practice supports unpretentious approach with service users and carries out progressive …show more content…
Ruch & Julkunen (2016) further define empathy is attempting to put ourselves in another person’s place to understand their sentiment. This gives us the ability to perceive the service users views and feelings. According to David Howe (2013) if there is no empathy this can this can make it difficult for the conversation to flow consequently the service users’ needs could be overlooked this would make it difficult to sense the service user’s emotions. However Tsang (2016) disputes that empathy can constrain the ability to understand a person or their sentiment due to language, or ethnic differences. These can be barriers making it difficult to understand the person and the empathy can be …show more content…
Service users will feel unheard and disappointed if they are not listened to. For my intervention I followed three main steps for active listening (Cournoyer, 2016) The first step is inviting this indicates that you are prepared to listen and ask questions this encourages service users to talk about their concerns. Step 2 listening when the service user responds to your questions you observe, encourage and remember all key information. Step 3 reflecting on what has been said repeating what they have said in terms of questions by rephrasing .By communicating a similar message you demonstrate your active listening and empathic understanding.At the end of the intervention I would paraphrase what had been discussed to summarise the situation also in agreement with Ross (2011) paraphrasing shows I was actively listening and reflecting on what had been
This class, Social Work Theory & Practice was made to be able to introduce me to social work theories, ideas, and skills needed to work in the social work profession. This class main tool used was a book called A Brief Introduction of Social Work Theory by David Howe which discusses social work theories in a compressive and explainable way. This class is important to my higher learning because it break down the theories that I will need to use during my practice and a...
According to Arianna Huffington in the article “Empathy: What We Need Now”, during hardships and instability of society, empathy is needed to find solutions to those issues. Huffington writes about how empathy is needed in our country in order to produce a positive social change. She begins by giving an example of a movement that Martin Luther King created and how empathy was a part of this movement. King as well spoke of how empathy is the sign of living. To become involved in the situations of humanity in order to improve it, displays that empathy is the core of a human’s existence. After reading this article, I do agree with Huffington about how individuals need to fully understand and put themselves within the situation to fully comprehend the issue to solve.
Empathy is an important part of the human experience. When we empathize we connect with others, feel what they are feeling, understand others, love and feel loved. People want to be heard and understood, even if their viewpoints differ from those of another person. There was a time when families engaged each other in dialogue. Thoughts, ideas, and beliefs were shared face to face, without being concerned that judgment was being passed. We live in a world today that has access to information in the single click of a computer mouse. Hidden in anonymity behind a computer monitor we can lose the ability to effectively communicate with other human beings. Sometimes that anonymity makes us bolder in our conversations and less concerned about the opinions, feelings, and views of other people. Does the opinion of someone else really matter? Do we really care what other people think? Is the way in which we view another person skewed when we fail to exercise empathy? These are some of the questions we must ask when determining if we are an effective empath. Willingness to listen and understand the thoughts of another person enriches our life and makes us a better person and contributor to the progression of the human family. Learning to empathize is the key to understanding and becoming an active listener. Without empathy as a part of our communication skill set our thinking will be short sided and narrow.
Burton defines empathy as the ability to not only recognize but also to share another person’s or a fictional character’s or a sentient beings’ emotions. It involves seeing a person’s situation from his or her own perspective and then sharing his or her emotions and distress (1). Chismar posits that to empathize is basically to respond to another person’ perceived state of emotion by experiencing similar feelings. Empathy, therefore, implies sharing another person’s feeling without necessary showing any affection or desire to help. For one to empathize, he or she must at least care for, be interested in or concerned about
Empathy is used to create change in the world by reaching out to the emotions of people and attending to them. It is used to help others learn and decide on matters that would not be reasonable without feelings attached to them. Empathy helps bring together communities that would have long ago drifted apart, but instead welcomed all who were different. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This attribute of human-beings really allows us to not only attend to situations as if they were our own, but it allows us to feel most of what others feel because humans are very much alike in some ways. In many of the articles and novels that we have read this quarter, characters from different pieces of context have portrayed empathy whether it was toward
Ornstein, D.E. & Ganzer, C. (2005). Relational Social Work: A Model for the Future. Families in
When considering dual relationships it can add several challenges to professional boundaries. Which are highlighted in small communities and rual areas. A dual relationship is defined as a set of multiple relationships in which one is professional and the others are social, financial, or professional. However, dual relationships may create boundary issues for the practitioner. Reamer describes boundary issues as things that causes conflict between professional duties and their social, sexual, religious, or business relationships. Direct service issues that arise within the rual social work practice from the increased liklihood of encountering dual relationships is the maintenance of the client confidentiality and privacy. Green and Mason published an article on the experience of social work and welfare practice in rural areas considering personal and professional role boundaries. Three issus arose from this was gaurding privileged knowledge, the use of client related knowledge gained informally, and rural service delivery considerations that protect client privacy and confidentiality. The authors point out that absolute confidentiality is difficult to obtain in rural areas. Confidentiality should be guaranteed unless a child is being abused, client is suicideal, or there is a threat to another person. However, it is challenged because rural social work invloves working with communities, groups, teams, and other agencies. The authors also point out that clients choose not to obtain services because they are unsure how confidential information is handled. Barbopoulos and Clark acknowledge that client's privacy is hard to maintain because people that know eachother are seen at places services are provided. Respondents reported that b...
The professional social worker will also work from. A systematic skill base and evidence based practice, but also a value and ethics based practice. Values are basically how professional people should treat service users with a deep understanding of right and wrong. Vigilante (1974) (cited in Barnard, A.2008) calls values the ‘fulcrum of practice’. These values and ethics benefit the service user as they receive a professional service in the professional relationship.
Working with others and improving own learning and performance are highly essential skills in social work. In this essay I will reflect on how well I have developed these two skills and what I need to do to improve them.
The purpose of this paper is to define, describe and apply social work models to my recent placement experience, and an initial assessment that I observed. My twenty day placement was at a Christian voluntary adoption agency, based in England. They do not have contracts with local authorities in Wales, but do work with them as and when their help in finding potential families to adopt children is required. Although a voluntary agency they work within the Adoption and Children Act 2002, Children Act 2004, Care Standards Act 2000.
A part of a social worker’s task is to enhance the life of an individual through advocacy, educating, and engagement. Positive influence is benefited through the engagement of the client such as building rapport with the individual. By doing this, the social worker develops trusting ground for the individual delivering the message. Engagement is reported to be an establishment of a professional relationship with a client (Langer & Lietz, 2014). If the process of engagement is not established through security of the client, then therapy cannot begin (Bowlby, 1988). This process is the first encounter you have with the social worker.
Social work practitioners should establish a therapeutic relationship with their client’s in the most empathic manner. With such empathy, the agent shall understand the client’s life course and transactional issues. Notably, transactional issues such as impoverishment, lack of socialization abilities, lack of an attachment, and/or no access to health care could severely disempower and impact an individual reality and future endeavors. Through engagement and collaboration of a therapeutic alliance, the practitioner and the client can analyze and reconstruct any discourses. With the above mentioned, the expansion of this document will disclose a client’s relevant information along with two clinical formulation’s, which correlate to evidence-based
Today’s skills session on social work interviewing skills covered the uniqueness of social work interviewing in comparison to interviews conducted in professions such as the police, doctors, employers, etc. It covered also different types of questioning and how to paraphrase. Another area covered was, what to avoid when interviewing a service user and the use of silence. I leant that interview skills are fundamental in social work and social work interviewing is unique. Social workers empathize with clients because of their knowledge of the client group and the need of help to alleviate their problems. Empathy however does not equate accepting that the client is right in what they have done or that the social worker is condoning their actions. Empathy relates to the issue of ‘trusting’ and ‘believing’ the client. In as much as a social worker should seek to establish trust in the relationship, this does not necessarily mean they should believe
The title ‘social worker’ is now restricted by law to those who are registered with the social care council, having obtained a recognised qualification in social work (Williams 2009). One of the features of social work with people with learning difficulties that many social workers appreciate highly is the opportunity to work with people over the long term occasionally throughout their lives.
Social work is of great significance worldwide aiming to bring about social change and development, cohesiveness within the society, empowerment and liberation of people, particularly those who are in need (International Federation of Social Workers & International Association of School of Social Work (IFSW & IASSW), 2014). The basic functions of social work includes Restoration, Provision of resources and Prevention. A Social Worker can be defined as an individual who is trained and qualified in the field of Social Work. He/she works with vulnerable people in an effort to bring about change in them and develop their social functioning. This is done in hopes of the individual meeting their social needs, identifying and finding solutions for