Process Recording #1
Xuanyi He
03/01/2024
Client: LY
Tune in (thinking/planning before the interview):
Before the reassessment, I had contacted her several times over the phone to schedule
the interview time. LY mentioned that since she has to juggle both work and studies,
she could only do a reassessment over the phone. I have a good impression of her
because she is easy to communicate with and almost always answers the phone.
Focus for work/connection to overall purpose:
The purpose of this interview is to update LY's current situation and complete her
reassessment. I noticed that her lab results have expired. During this interview, I need
to remind her to update her lab results and track the completion of the service plan set
last time.
Content of interview:
LY was punctual; she was ready when I called her. I went through the questions for
the reassessment one by one, but the phone interview was really challenging for me. I
couldn't hear her well, and she couldn't hear me clearly either. We often had to repeat
ourselves, which was a waste of time and energy.
During the process, she mentioned that she couldn't understand me because of my
accent. I felt somewhat offended, but I didn't give it much thought at the time. When I
found it difficult to explain the questions to her clearly, I tried to have my colleague,
Library, help me communicate with her. However, she asked, "Who is that speaking?"
We explained that my colleague would assist me with the reassessment, but she
refused. She stated that she had an appointment with me, so she only wanted to talk to
me. This was the first time I encountered such a situation, but I was able to understand
and apologized to her. Later in the process, I found her to be very meticulous. For
instance, when I asked if she remembered the service plan set up by the social worker
she interacted with last time, she said she didn't know. I was surprised, thinking she
hadn't done a service plan before, but then she clarified that she didn't know if the
previous person was a social worker. I realized my own lack of precision, but at the
same time, I felt a bit uncomfortable, not knowing where this discomfort came from. I
felt I needed to address and understand this discomfort.
Although the process was not smooth, fortunately, the reassessment was completed
successfully. At the end, I apologized for the issues during the process and mentioned
that I would strive to improve my skills. However, after the conversation, I began to
reflect. I do need to constantly improve myself, but should I really have apologized?
The difficulties were not solely caused by me, and perhaps I shouldn't attribute all the
problems to myself.
Assessment of your own work:
I successfully completed the task. It wasn't perfect, but in this job, there may not be an
absolute perfection, only continuous self-reflection, self-discovery, and
self-improvement. I found this experience very enlightening. During the process, I
uncovered some previously overlooked feelings within myself. Although I haven't
fully reflected on the root causes, this experience has inspired me.
Next steps:
Firstly, I should engage in more self-reflection and introspection to identify the
deep-seated reasons that triggered my discomfort during the interview process and
delve into deeper self-exploration. Secondly, I am considering if clients are unable to
attend in-person interviews, could we opt for video conferencing instead of telephone
interviews? Video conferencing demands a higher standard for the background
environment, which could encourage clients to choose a quieter setting for the
interview. Furthermore, research indicates that seeing the other person's lip
movements can aid in clearly hearing and understanding their words.