Social Work and Reflective Communication

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Social Work and Reflective Communication

• Basic Communication Skills

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Professional conversations and personal
conversations What are the differences?
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Personal conversations

• Often spontaneous
• Unstructured or semistructured
• Subject to interruptions
• Can be terminated abruptly
• Do not need to reach resolution
• Can tolerate a range of informalities humour,
  touching, provocation, challenge, ignoring etc.
• Are influenced by diversity age, language,
  class, culture, ethnicity, politics, religion
• Often are not strictly time limited
• Can often be overheard by others
• Are much influenced by the nature and history of
  the the relationship power differentials,
  empathy/conflict etc

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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

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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)

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Working together toward goals
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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)
• )

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Places where social work conversations happen

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

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Level of intensity in the helping relationship

• Nature of the problem
• The agency context
• The conceptual underpinning
• Engagement issues
• Individual versus group couple or family
  involvement

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Some variations in intensity

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

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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

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What influences the duration

• Nature of the presenting problem
• Agency policy (e.g. crisis intervention and
  referral only)
• Conceptual framework (e.g. behavioural vs
  psychodynamic)
• The intensity of the relationship
• The effectiveness of on-going engagement
• The effectiveness of the interventions
• The context e.g. a further crisis

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Level of skill required

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

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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

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Interviewing, counselling and psychotherapy

• Interviewing information gathering and advice
  giving
• Counselling normal developmental concerns
• Psychotherapy - explores deeper issues
• See Ivey and Ivey (2003) Ch1

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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

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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

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Preparing for the interview structured approach

• Use checklists of tasks/issues
• Read case notes
• Consider our role
• Consider immediate context age, gender, culture
  etc.
• Consider the broader context statutory, social
  justice etc.
• See Trevithick (2000)

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Creating a rapport and establishing a relationship

• A harmonious working relationship (Barker, 1995)
• 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, 1991)
• Cited in Trevithick (2000)

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Features of an effective helping relationship

• Concern for service users 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)

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Welcoming skills

• Reception staff friendly but discreet
• Décor bright and ordered but not overly formal
• Private and confidential
• Décor reflecting multiracial gender cultural mix
  of population served
• Catering for age/disability etc
• Wheelchair and pram accessible
• Social chat
• Shaking hands when appropriate
• See Trevithick (2000)

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Personal style, intentionality and cultural
intentionality

• Personal style preferences, personal baggage,
  genuineness, use of self, self disclosure
• Intentionality competence and clarity in
  decision-making
• Cultural intentionality incorporating diversity
  in thought, feelings and behaviours
• Ivey and Ivey (2003) Ch 1