Social Work and Reflective Communication - Counseling and Therapy - Lecture Slides, Slides of Psychotherapy

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Social Work and Reflective

Communication

Professional conversations and

personal conversations:

What are the differences?

Professional conversations

• More formal/constrained in language and style
• Generally not accompanied by physical contact often structured or semi-structured
• Time limited
• Goal directed
• Power differentials play a major role
• Agency influenced
• Context dependent
• Voluntary or involuntary

Common problems presenting to

social workers

• Interpersonal conflict
• Dissatisfaction in social relations
• Problems with formal organisations
• Role performance
• Social transition
• Reactive emotional distress
• Inadequate resources
• Psychological role and behavioural problems not identified elsewhere Reid (1978) cited in Trevithick (2000)

Settings for practice

• Child and family agencies (NGOs and state)
• Hospitals(psychiatric and general)
• Courts
• Prisons
• Community health centres
• Aged care settings
• Migrant resource centres
• Drug and alcohol agencies
• Rehabilitation agencies (residential and day programs) )

Places where social work

conversations happen

• Office
• Garden
• Home
• Bedside
• Car
• Park
• Coffee shop
• External agency/institution (prison,school,court,hospital) See Cleak and Egan in Egan and Maidment (2004)

Some variations in intensity

• Crisis intervention and referral
• Short term problem solving
• Medium term counselling and support
• Group work
• Family therapy
• Long term psychotherapy

Duration of the helping relationship

• Crisis intervention – single session or few

sessions

• Short term – up to six weeks
• Medium term – six to twelve weeks
• Longer term – six to twelve months or more

Level of skill required

• Volunteer (trained or untrained)
• Apprenticeship training on the job
• Academic qualification
• Post graduate training
• Professional development

Some examples of difference

• Family counselling - undergraduate training
• Family therapy – post graduate training
• Crisis intervention – undergraduate training
• Intensive psychotherapy – postgraduate training and supervision
• Sometimes also trained volunteers or workers who have had in-service training can offer a range of helping services
• Skills required can be basic, intermediate or advanced depending on complexity of issues

Engaging with the task and

purpose of the interview

• Planning and preparing for the interview
• Creating a rapport and establishing a

relationship

• The relationship
• Welcoming skills
• Informal opening conversations (social chat)

Trevithick (2000)Ch 4

Preparing for the interview –

unstructured approach

• Reflection
• Empathy
• Intuition
• Combine intuition and analysis
• Read case notes
• Consider our role
• Consider context – age, gender, culture etc.

Trevithick(2000) Ch 4

Creating a rapport and establishing

a relationship

• A harmonious working relationship (Barker,
• Rapport means “close and sympathetic”
• Social workers place great value on the quality of the helping relationship (Coulshed, 1991)
• “The relationship is the communication bridge between people”(Kadushin,1990)
• Feminists have seen building relationships as central to empowerment and growth (Stone,

   _Cited in Trevithick (2000)_ 

Features of an effective helping

relationship

• Concern for service user’s self-determination
• Displaying interest, warmth and trust
• Respect for individuality
• Acceptance
• Empathic understanding
• Genuineness and authenticity
• Establishing ground rules regarding confidentiality

Adapted from Kadushin (1990 )