Basic Skills Flashcards
When is it appropriate to offer advice to a client?
It is typically inappropriate to offer advice to a client. The only time it is appropriate is in life threatening situations (suicide, homicide, etc)
What are the five ways of responding to a client?
Advice, analysis, sympathy/reassurance, interrogation, and reflection.
What is the issue with analysis?
Similar to advice, the analysis focus on the WORKER not the CLIENT. Best to stay away from the comments.
What are the times in which analysis is appropriate?
Sparingly - it is appropriate to use analysis to provide a rationale for a recommendation (e.g. treatment plan ideas, intervention, etc).
Sympathy; is it okay?
If the relationship does not involve you regularly revealing your personal thoughts and emotions, then sympathy probably is inappropriate.
Reassurance; is that appropriate?
Depends on the worth of its guarantee. There is no value in false reassurance. Its guarantee is worthless.
Is there such a thing as too many questions?
YES! Workers view those types of interactions are shallow, and clients feel as if they are unpleasant.
Open Probes and Questions…
Typically start with “What”s and “Hows”. Engages client more efficiently and individuals engage in higher levels of self-disclosure, provide info that is more accurate and perceive the worker as more empathetic.
Closed probes and questions…
Can be answered with a small bit of information or a simple “yes” or “no”. Only beneficial if you are looking for specific information that is sufficiently answered with yes or no.
Leading questions…
Avoid these. These seek agreement rather than an actual answer.
Multiple questions..
Another flawed system. This not only overwhelms the client but confuses the worker once the client responds to the questions.
Why questions..
These questions can be perceived as accusations. Clients tend to respond defensively to these if they feel as if they are being attacked.
Reflection
This technique uses fresh words to summarize important thoughts and feelings about what a client just expressed.
Types of reflections
factual reflections; surface feeling reflections; underlying feeling reflections.
Factual Reflections
Describe conditions without any reference to emotions. This allows for rapid movement through topics.
Surface Feeling Reflections
Recognize obvious emotions being expressed. By matching and even exceeding intensity of emotions, encourage the client to consider issues being discussed. Difficult to go wrong with these
Underlying feeling reflections
Suggests emotions that have not been explicitly stated or expressed by the client. This can be productive however if the client is not ready to discuss these feelings or they or false can be very counterproductive.
Funnel sequences
Begin with a broad probe or question, continue with reflection and possibly some open interrogation, then end with closed interrogation to fill in any gaps
Inverted funnel sequence
Begin with easily answered closed questions then move to broader responses such as reflection and open interrogation. Best approach for reluctant clients
What characteristics are clients likely to want in their workers?
Kindness, understanding, and honesty
What are the three interpersonal skills that help workers build relationships with their clients?
Empathy, Positive Regard, and Genuineness
To convey empathy, we typically
reflect. A lot.
A “warm” worker is one who..
is going to be non-judgmental as well as caring and respectful to the client.
Define genuiness
Being honest - meaning what you say.
Typical endeavors that are engaged in by genuine workers are..
not making promises one cannot keep, being natural (yet polite) with a client, and clarifying client comments when you are unsure what they have said.
Stages of Problem Solving
Exploring thoughts and feelings; considering alternatives; and developing a plan
Exploration Phase:
A time to let a client vent. Focus on distressing emotions as well as gathering information about the client and the problem the are conveying.
Skilled workers during the exploration phase..
tries to discover issues that clients are personally motivated to address and for which they accurately perceive some responsibility. Those are the areas in which change can be facilitated.
Considering alternatives phase
Goal is to consider in detail two or three promising options.
Questions to considering during alternative phase:
“What have you tried?” “What have you thought about trying” “Right now as we are talking, what other possibilities have come to mind?”
What are additional methods that can encourage a client to engage in generating problem-solving possibilities?
Brainstorming
Thinking of what others have done in a similar situation
What are the four elements of a good plan?
- Negotiated
- Focused in the present
- Specific
- Realistic
What are some ways to help a client think through a possible alternative?
Asking “what would need to be true in order for this possibility to be a good idea”
Role Playing
When a person blames circumstances and other people for his or her problems, what do you need to encourage in the client
recognizing their role and ownership of the problem
How can us as workers, make sure a plan is clear to the client?
Have the client describe the plan and implementation of it
How can we help the client to make a more specific plan?
Encourage the client to consider the logistics of plan - the when, wheres, and hows
What are the problems with starting an interaction by saying “How may I help you?”
Puts the focus on you and implies your role is to solve the problem
If you come to believe that it is necessary to make a suggestion at what point in the problem solving process should you offer it?
At the end of the alternatives phase after having pulled options from the client
When first discussing a topic, what is wrong with referring to the circumstance with a word such as “situation”, “stuff” or “this”?
These phrases are very vague and will not help build understanding between you and the client
What is the disadvantage of relying on feeling terms such as “upset” “concerned” or “bothered”
Almost all clients are upset. This says nothing unique about the client
When should you use qualifiers such as “kind of” “a little” or “sort of”
When you want to decrease the impact of your comment
What are you implying when you say that something “makes you feel” or “must have been”?
imply that it is impossible to change the way the client responds to the circumstance.
