DQ1 week 3 449 6
Sandra Sotelo
Hello Professor and Classmates,
There were many direct practice errors evident in the beginning and throughout the session with the client in the session one video. The probation officer struggled to build a rapport with the client. She didn’t really appear to create a warm and welcoming environment for the client or do more than make a simple introduction. Furthermore, she was fidgety, seemed rushed, and was seen checking her watch, worried about the time. She came across as judgmental and this was especially apparent when she stated, “you probably didn’t learn very much when you were in there for those two weeks” (MindTap – Cengage Learning, n.d.) when talking about the client’s treatment. She didn’t address the client’s concerns for signing the bill of rights nor his concern in signing it, especially with the “fancy lingo” and making sure the client understood what he was signing.
What I learned was, as Hepworth et al. (2016) express, establishing rapport is crucial for fostering communication that is open, free, and effective for interviews as well as building trust and confidence in the social worker. Respect is vital element of the helping process (Hepworth et al., 2016). Moreover, our role as social workers is not to judge our clients, but to understand them and work with them to find solutions to their problems (Hepworth et al., 2016).
The social workers approach in the redo session positively impacted the helping relationship. The social worker not only created a more welcoming environment by introducing herself and asking how the client would like to be addressed but also began to foster rapport and demonstrate respect for the client. Moreover, she also demonstrated empathy instead of judgment in this session and the client was more calm, open, and actively participated in the session. The social worker was able to ask about client goals and give the client choices which promoted his right to self determination. The client was more willing to go through with the treatment process, he was able to address his concerns, and ask questions.
Best,
Sandra
Hepworth, D. H., Rooney, R. H., Rooney, G. D., & Strom-Godfried, K. (2016). Direct social work practice: Theory and skills (10th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage. ISBN-13: 9781305833803.
MindTap – Cengage Learning. (n.d.). Probation Officer: Session 1. [Video]. MindTap – Cengage Learning. https://ng.cengage.com
MindTap – Cengage Learning. (n.d.). Probation Officer: Redo Session 1. [Video]. MindTap – Cengage Learning. https://ng.cengage.com
