Professional Development and Use of Self

Question 1

What are the components of the SW-client relationship?

Answer 1

• Emotional/connecting bond
  
  • Relationship is the communication bridge where message pass
  • Positive relationship is an important tool
  • Must convey sense of respect for client’s individuality and their right to self determination

*** Most consistent factor associated with beneficial outcomes of a helping relationship is a positive relationship between SW & Client

Question 2

What are some SW roles in the problem solving procesS?

Answer 2

• Advocate
• Broker
• Change Agent
• Counsellor
• Mediator

Question 3

What does a SW do as an advocate?

Answer 3

• Goal of empowering client system being served
  
  • Speak on behalf of clients when client can’t/others won’t listen
  • Particular responsibility to advocate on behalf of those disempowered by society

Question 4

What does a SW does as a broker?

Answer 4

• Responsible for identifying, locating, & linking systems with needed resources in a timely fashion
  
  • Once client needs are assessed - assists in choosing most appropriate service option & negotiating terms of service delivery
    Concerned with quality, quantity, & accessibility of services

Question 5

What does a SW do as a change agent?

Answer 5

• Participates as part of group/organization seeking to improve or restructure some aspect of service provision
  
  • Working with others uses problem-solving model to identify problem, solicit input, plan for change
    Acts in coordinated manner to achieve change at multiple levels to shift focus of institutional resources to meet identified goals

Question 6

What does a SW do as a counsellor?

Answer 6

• Focuses on improving social functioning
  
  • Help clients articulate needs, clarify problems, explore resolution strategies, apply intervention strategies
    Empower clients by affirming their personal strengths & capacities to deal with problems more effectively

Question 7

What does a SW do as a mediator?

Answer 7

• Dispute resolution between parties to find compromises & reach mutually satisfying agreements
  Netural stance

Question 8

What is a SW’s primary role?

Answer 8

** Primary role is to act as a resource - assuming various roles depending upon nature of client problems

Question 9

What can empathic communication help achieve?

Answer 9

• Empathic understanding involves being nonjudgemental, accepting & genuine
  
  • Encourages more rational discussion
    For those used to negative emotions, empathic response may be first step in engaging in helping relationship
    ○ Establishes rapport with clients—empathic communication is one means of bridging the gap between a social worker and client
    ○ Starts where a client is and stays attuned to a client throughout the encounter (being perceptive to changes in frame of mind)
    ○ Increases the level at which clients explore themselves and their problems
    ○ Responds to a client’s nonverbal messages (a social worker can observe body language and make explicit a client’s feelings)
    ○ Decreases defensiveness and engages a client in processing and testing new information
    - Defuses anger that represents obstacles to progress

Question 10

What is Transference?

Answer 10

redirection of a client’s feelings for a significant person to a SW

- First described by Freud 
- Often manifested in erotic attraction toward SW but can be seen as rage, hatred, mistrust, parentification, extreme dependence or even placing SW in esteemed status
- Happens on an unconscious level 
- SW doing psychoanalysis uses transference to reveal unresolved conflicts a client has with childhood figures

Question 11

What is countertransference?

Answer 11

redirection of SW’s feelings toward a client - SW’s emotional entanglement with a client
Helps SW regulate their emotions in the therapeutic relationship & gives valuable insight into what a client is attempting to elicit in them

Question 12

What is self care?

Answer 12

activities & practice done on a regular basis to reduce stress and maintain and enhance short & longer term health & well being
- Not only about limiting/addressing professional stressors, also about enhancing overall well-being
Receiving support from mentors/peer, obtaining therapy, engaging in relaxation & personal endeavors that are nonprofessional, balancing work/personal life

Question 13

What can Self Care help a SW do?

Answer 13

• Identify & manage general challenges - stress, burnout, interpersonal difficulties
  
  • Become aware of personal vulnerabilities
    ○ Retraumatization, vicarious/secondary traumatization, compassion fatigue
  • Achieve balance in life
    By maintaining & enhancing attention paid to different domains of life

Question 14

What does self care aim to do?

Answer 14

• Taking care of physical and psychological health
  
  • Managing and reducing stress
  • Honoring emotional and spiritual needs
  • Fostering and sustaining relationships
    Achieving an equilibrium between meeting personal needs and school/work demands

Question 15

What is burnout?

Answer 15

state of physical, emotional, psychological &/or spiritual exhaustion
- Can be manifested as cynicism or lack of satisfaction in work
- Characterized by emotional fatigue & feeling inadequate due to not being able to change client’s life circumstances
- Client, organizational, & contextual variables can contribute
Cumulatively over time

Question 16

What is secondary trauma?

Answer 16

relates to behaviours & emotions that result from knowledge about traumatizing events experienced by clients and the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help
- Results from engaging in empathic relationships with clients who have had traumatic experiences, witnessing effects of those experiences
- Symptoms mirror that of primary trauma - insomnia, chronic irritability/angry outbursts, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, avoidance
More immediate onset

Question 17

What is compassion fatigue?

Answer 17

syndrome consisting of symptoms of secondary trauma & burnout
- Usually represents overall emotional & physical fatigue SW can experience due to use of empathy with those distraught and experiencing emotional pain
- Also encounter bureaucratic hurdles that exacerbate stress & upset the balance between practice & administrative demands
- Tends to occur cumulatively over time
Can happen when SW sees little/no improvement in client situations

Question 18

What are the components of a safe and positive work environment?

Answer 18

• Where values & principles of employers & SW’s are consistent with each other, mutually reinforcing
  
  • Most effective SW services provided in situations where employers understand SW practice, respect their employees & are committed to implementing professional values
    Needs to consider ethical principles, supervision, workload management & continuing professional development

Question 19

What does a safe work environment enable SW’s to do?

Answer 19

• Written policy setting out standards of ethical practice
  ○ SW should never be required to do something that puts them at risk of upholding ethical standards
  
  • Policies should be informed by research & practice evidence
  • Public should be reuglarly informed about standards, policies, & procedures & provided with info about how to raise concerns/complain
  • SW must hold recognized qualifications, provide references, demonstrate that they understand their roles & responsibilities - including ethical duties
  • Dangerous, discriminatory, exploitive behaviour must be dealt with promptly through implementing policies & procedures
    ○ Should prevent & minimize violence
  • SW have a right to health & occupational safety to be protected
    ○ Frequently experience trauma & violence in workplace
  • Adoption & implementation of policies on workload management make a major contribution to provision of quality services
  • Physical Working environment should support effective & ethical practice
    ○ Confidential interviewing space, storage of confidential records
  • Continuing professional development & training allow for strengthening & developing skills & adapting to changing needs
    ○ Orientation of new people
  • Good quality, regular supervision
  • Systematic reviews of services & practice led by SW regularly
    ○ Identify needed support, training, & action when poor or unethical practice is identified
  • Career development opportunities need to be available
    ○ Meet individual needs of SW & constitute an effective tool for retaining valuable practice knowledge & experience
    Rates of pay comparable to similar professionals

Question 20

What is professional objectivity in SW-Client relationships?

Answer 20

• Communication should not be burdened with emotional investment, should be genuinely concerned & encouraging while neither condemning or praising
  Relationship must be productive - mutual acceptance & trust

Question 21

What are the principles & applications of Self Disclosure

Answer 21

• Some self disclosure can be useful as it can help clients connect during engagement
  
  • Some is exploitative, self-serving, & harmful
    ○ Source of many boundary violations
  • Sometimes because trauma/problems of SW have not been adequately addressed & are looking to cope
  • Most require no self-disclosure
    Engage in supervision/consultation before disclosure - why is it being considered, why is it professionally justified, why do you want to disclose?

Question 22

How can SW’s mitigate conflict in interdisciplinary collaboration?

Answer 22

• Outline parameters that will govern the functioning of the team: frequency of contact, other forms of communication, delineation of responsibilities, leadership positions
  
  • Understand & define roles
  • Understand & articulate professional values of everyone
  • Agree upon methods of decision making
    Determine means for resolving disagreements

Question 23

What can SW’s do personally to avoid conflicts in collaboration?

Answer 23

** Importance of role boundaries, role maintenance & role clarity are essential in collaborative relationships
- Responsibility of SW to reflect on own values to ensure they aren’t interfering with collaborative process & always aligned with ensuring outcomes in best interest of client
○ Beliefs about differing status among members
○ Unequal benefits for participation
○ Different levels of time commitments
○ Insecurity about value
Lack of administrative support

Question 24

What is Governance?

Answer 24

Governance: structures, functions, processess & customes that exist within an organization to ensure it operates in a way that achieves its objectives & does so in an effective, transparent manner
- Framework of accountability
- Good governance adds value by improving performance of an organization through more efficient management, more strategic & equitable resource allocation & service provision
When not all client needs can be met, an allocation procedure should be developed that is nondiscriminatory, appropriate & consistent

Question 25

What do accreditation/licensing requirements do?

Answer 25

Administrative Reviews from organizations are critical to fulfilment of SW mission - provide accountability to public

Question 26

What are some time management approaches?

Answer 26

• Most approaches focus on creating conducive/effective environments, modifying behaviours, setting priorities
  
  • Initially started as checklists & notes to recognize time deands
  • Evolved into calendars & appointment books focused on anticipating future events
  • 3rd approach (used today) examines efficiency with focus on prioritizing, planning, controlling, & taking steps towards a goal
  • Last approach requires categorization of daily activtites by importance & urgancy
    Time management should include minimizing time spent on activities that are not important and ensuring those that are not urgent but are important (relationship building, recreation, leisure etc) are also prioritized

Question 27

What are the 3 models of supervision and consultation

Answer 27

Individual, Peer Group, Facilitated Group

Question 28

What is Individual supervision + the benefits and challenges

Answer 28

> Individual:
Benefits
○ Full attention on the skill development, strengths, challenges, and professional enhancement of the individual supervisee
○ More time and potentially safer environment in which to explore supervisee’s interpersonal dynamics with clients and the impact of the work (e.g., countertransference issues, secondary trauma, compassion fatigue, burnout)
○ Less exposure to poor practices of peers which could be inappropriately modeled or interfere with supervision process
Challenges
○ Potential for supervisee to feel intimidated by the supervisor, with no one else present to observe, or break up the intensity of the one-to-one focus
○ Costly and time consuming
○ No input from others outside the dyad
No opportunity for supervisee to compare self with others, or gain support from peers

Question 29

What are the benefits + challenges of peer group supervision?

Answer 29

> Peer Group
Benefits
○ Each group member can offer and receive wisdom, experience, and ideas (i.e., enjoy both “teacher” and “student” roles)
○ Shared influence and responsibility regarding how the group is run
○ Avoids chance of getting stuck with an unwanted supervisor
○ Opportunities for personal growth via group dynamics
○ Participants as equals encourages lateral help and peer support
Challenges
○ Potential for unconscious designation of more experienced/skilled members as “de facto” supervisors
○ Success is dependent upon how group members exercise their responsibilities
○ Mutual trust, openness, and respect are essential
○ Usually requires that groups remain closed, at least for a period of time
○ Competition, defensiveness, and criticism between peers can occur
Clinical case discussion frequency, depth, and intensity is limited by the time available and the number of members participating in the group

Question 30

What are the benefits + challenges of facilitated group supervision?

Answer 30

Benefits
○ Learning occurs from others’ practice examples and ways of working
○ Self-confirmation occurs through giving feedback
○ Opportunities for role play and other action techniques are present
○ Less expensive and time consuming than individual supervision
○ Opportunities for personal growth via group dynamics
Challenges
○ Supervisor must be skilled in working systemically with groups and must be able to facilitate while also supervising (dual tasks)
○ Supervisor’s anxiety about his or her own competence may pose a barrier, as there is greater exposure of the supervisor’s abilities and experience
○ Less time for each supervisee, as the group must balance the needs of each member
Group needs to have a high level of trust for supervisees to feel safe

Question 31

What is the Supervisee’s role in supervision?

Answer 31

• Identifying learning needs, self-assessment, prioritizing etc.
  
  • Short term objective: increase capacity to work more effectively, provide a work context conducive to productivity, help a SW take satisfaction in their work
  • Long term objective: assure delivery of most effective & efficient client services
  • SW should provide services & represent themselves as competent only within their education, training, license, consultation/supervision, professional experience
  • Should use new techniques/approaches only after engaging in appropriate study, training, consultation, & supervision
  • Exercise careful judgement in areas of emerging practice - ensure competence to prevent harm
    Supervisor/Supervisee should meet privately to discuss problems

Question 32

What is the impact of transference/countertransference on supervisory relationships?

Answer 32

• Can be a parallel process of what happens between SW & Client
  
  • Transference occures when SW recreates (within a supervisory relationship) a presenting problem & emotions occurring in therapeutic relationship
  • Countertransference occurs when a supervisor responds to a SW in the same manner that a SW responds to a client
    Parallel process is an unconscious identification with a client & can be used as an important part of the supervisory process

Question 33

What are Professional Development activities

Answer 33

Professional Development: skills & knowledge attained for effective service delivery & career advancement

- Encompasses all types of learning opportunities - formal coursework & conferences to informal learning opportunities 
- Variety of approaches: consultation, coaching, communities of practice, mentoring, reflective supervision, & technical assistance

Question 34

What are the stages of professional development?

Answer 34

Often various stages of professional development:
1. Orientation & job induction
2. Autonomous worker
3. Member of service team (independence to interdependence)
4. Development of Specialization
Preparation to be mentor/supervisor