Social Work Skills
Introduction
Chapters 1 and 2
1
General Social Work Skills

As a social worker,
 You will serve people in all walks of life
and in all kinds of situations.
 The range of settings in which you might
serve is wide and varied.
 The contexts for practice are often
complex, demanding and challenging.
 Competence requires adequate
knowledge, ethics, accountability, and
proficiency
2
Social Work Skill...
... fundamental to social work
practice.
3
Are you in the right place?
47-304-01
 Tues-Thurs
 Room
 Fall 2007

4
Maritime School of Social Work
About Me
Hail from East Coast of Canada
 Born and raised in a coal mining town
 Went to university to study philosophy
 Led to Social Work
 Led to Education
 Ended in academia
 Been here for 30+ years

5
About Each Other?
Class Exercise
 Break into groups of 2
 Introduce one another
 Tell person one true statement about
yourself and one false statement
 Have the person try and decipher which is
the false and which is the true statement

6
About Us
Opportunity to learn
 Opportunity to share
 Opportunity to grow
 Opportunity to become
hands-on, competent and
confident social workers

7
Point of This Course
Come to know, understand and practice
the steps important to social work
practice.
 To use case examples and situations that
clearly illustrate the essential skills of
social work practice.
 To work our way through summaries and
skill-building exercises, and get involved
in actual hands-on practice.

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Teaching Methodology


Lectures accompanied by PowerPoint
outlines, class and small group discussions,
and experiential activities.
My responsibility:


Provide content, and to provide the structure and
opportunities to learn.
Your responsibility:

To learn; to be actively engaged in class, to be
curious about new ideas, to be willing to try new
skills, to ask questions when needed, and to
complete all assignments (including assigned
reading).
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Course Work and Grading
Refer to Course Outline
 Assignments
 Tests


Multiple Choice
Attendance
 Participation

10
This Class RULES!



Respect for Self
 Do your best
 Positively participate in all classroom activities
Respect for Others
 Stay on task without disturbing or distracting others
 Avoid ‘put downs’ or harass others
 Respect other people’s differences and opinions
Respect for School
 Raise hand to speak
 Enter and exit the room quietly
 Complete all assignments on time
11
 Actively listen when others are speaking
Course Text:
The Social Work Skills Workbook
Barry. R. Cournoyer
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
Up to here for Thus. Sept. 6th
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Professionalism
3. Ethical Decision
Making
4. Talking and Listening
5. Preparing
6. Beginning
7. Exploring
8. Assessing
9. Contracting
10. Working and Evaluating
11. Ending
12. Appendices
14
Student Resources

Text Resources


http://infotrac.thomsonlearning.com/
Student Support Resources
http://www.uwindsor.ca/support
 Student Development and Support

 http://www.uwindsor.ca/sds

Student Counselling Center
 http://www.uwindsor.ca/scc
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Chapter 1
Introduction
16
Chapter Purpose

The Purpose of this chapter will be to:







Discuss breadth and complexity of social work practice
Define and discuss the concept of “social work” skill
Discuss the significance of social work skills
Identify the phases or processes of social work practice
Discuss common factors and essential facilitative
qualities for professional relationships
Discuss the purposes and functions of The Social Work
Skills Learning Portfolio
Discuss the qualities and characteristics needed by
ethical, effective social workers
17
Social
Workers
…many
the
splendid
role…
18
And the many splendid tasks…
19
Do you Know Where You’re
Going to?
What kind of social work would
you like to practice in the future?
20

At some point in your career as a social
worker, you might:
Serve in a child protection capacity,
responding to indications that a child may be
at risk of abuse or neglect.
 Help families improve their child-caring
capabilities or serve in the emergency room of
a hospital, intervening with persons and
families in crises.
 Lead therapy groups for children who have
been sexually victimized or provide
education and counselling to abusive adults.

21
You might also…





Aid couples whose relationships are faltering
Help single parents who seek guidance and support
in rearing their children.
Serve persons who abuse alcohol and drugs
Help family members who have been affected by the
substance abuse of a parent, child, spouse, or
sibling.
Work in a residential setting for youthful offenders, a
prison for adults, or a psychiatric institution.
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You Could Even…



Help people who are in some way physically or
mentally challenged.
Serve in a school system or perhaps as a
consultant to a police department.
Function in a crisis intervention capacity for a
suicide prevention service.
23
The Social workers role - a tiered approach
24
Social Workers can also work in a
variety of settings:







Health and Community
Services
Health Care
Communities
Long-term care
Justice
Research
Self-employment
(Hick, 2002, p. 61)
25
Real Life Scenario
1.
2.
3.
Listen to the following audio
recording of a client-therapy
session
Write down what the issue is
Note what techniques the therapist
uses
26
A RECORDED GRIEF SESSION

MUSIC-BASED INTERVENTION

The scenario demonstrates the strategic use
of the Music Impact Inventory Scale (MIIS)
with a 48 year old grandmother who lost her
grandson accidentally last summer. Gordon
was 5 years old and drowned in the family
swimming pool. This is the six grief session
that I have had with this grandmother.
27

You may ask yourself,
"Can I possibly learn what I need to so that I
can serve competently as a social worker in
all those places, serving such different people,
and helping them to address such complex
issues?"
 The answer to that question is certainly No!


TAKE HEED THOUGH

You can acquire expertise in those skills that
are common to social work practice
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Regardless of situation or setting…

Social workers are trained to function
Within established codes of ethics and
professionalism
 Within a holistic theoretical and practice
framework
 By taking into account and working within the
person-and-situation (PAS) or person-inenvironment (PIE) or person-issue-situation
(PIS) paradigm
 By employing social work skills

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Social Work Code of Ethics

Social workers pledge adherence as
follows:
The social work profession promotes social
change, problem solving in human
relationships and the empowerment and
liberation of people to enhance well being.
 Utilising theories of human behaviour and
social systems, social work intervenes at the
points where people interact with their
environments.

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Person-in-environment (PIE)


Social Work seeks to recognize both the client
(person), their environment, and the interaction
between them.
Florence Hollis (1964) PIE or "person-in-the situation"



Stresses person's physical, social, and psychological
realities that both define and limit that person.
Social Workers seek to examine both the personal, and
the social aspects of all 'Problems' social/personal
problems
Most intervention happens at the individual level, with
system approaches to problem solving seek mainly to
improve individual functioning.
31
For Example: PIE for Child
32
 It
is for these reasons that this 304
course is invaluable, not only in your
professional relationships but they will
help you in your own communication
skills in general
 in
truly understanding others,
affirming their uniqueness and
celebrating their individuality
33
“I’m a full
human being. I
want you to be
able to relate to
me as one
human being to
another”.
34
Social Work Skill
"the practice component that brings
knowledge and values together and
converts them to action as a response to
concern and need (Johnson, 1995, p. 55),
"a complex organization of behaviour
directed toward a particular goal or activity"
(Johnson, 1995, p. 431)
35
36
And a "social worker's capacity to use a
method in order to further a process
directed toward the accomplishment of a
social work purpose as that purpose finds
expression in a specific program or service"
(Smalley, 1967, p. 17).
Skill is "the production of specific
behaviours under the precise conditions
designated for their use"
(Middleman & Goldberg, 1990, p. 12).
37
Social Work Skill

Circumscribed set of discrete cognitive
and behavioural actions that:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Derive from social work knowledge and from
social work values, ethics, and obligations,
Are consistent with the essential facilitative
qualities,
Reflect the characteristics of
professionalism, and
Comport with a social work purpose within
the context of a phase or process of practice.
38
A "social worker's skills include being
proficient in communication,
assessing problems and client
workability, matching needs with
resources, developing resources,
and changing social structures"
(Barker, 1995).
39
Twelve skills outlined by the National Association
of Social Workers’ skills (NASW, 1981)
1. Listen to others with understanding and purpose
2. Elicit information and assemble relevant facts to
prepare a social history, assessment, and report
3. Create and maintain professional helping
relationships
4. Observe and interpret verbal and nonverbal
behavior and use knowledge of personality theory
and diagnostic methods
5. Engage clients (including individuals, families,
groups, and communities) in efforts to resolve
their own problems and to gain trust
6. Discuss sensitive emotional subjects supportively
and without being threatening
40
Skills Continued
7. Create innovative solutions to clients’ needs
8. Determine the need to terminate the
therapeutic relationship
9. Conduct research, or interpret the findings of
research and professional literature
10. Mediate and negotiate between conflicting
parties
11. Provide inter-organizational liaison services
12. Interpret and communicate social needs to
funding sources, the public, or legislators
41

The skills are derived from the tasks
associated with commonly identified
phases or processes of social work
practice, the essential facilitative qualities
exhibited by most effective professional
helpers, and the fundamental
characteristics of professionalism and
include
42
Phases or processes of social work
practice
Preparing
 Beginning
 Exploring
 Assessing
 Contracting
 Working and evaluating
 Ending

43

T herapy of Limits
44
Common Factors Research

A review by Asay and Lambert (1999) of six
decades of therapy outcomes and identified 4
common therapeutic factors which contribute to
successful therapeutic outcomes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
15% Model and Technique factors
40% Client variables and extratherapeutic variables
30% Therapeutic relationship factors such as:
 warmth, acceptance, empathic understanding,
and client-therapist agreement
15% expectancy and placebo effects
45
Factors in Thearpeutic Outcomes
Expectancy and
Placebo
15%
Therpeutic
Relationship
30%
Model and
Technique
15%
Client and
Extratherapeutic
40%
46
CLIENT FACTORS (40 %)
Pre-existing characteristics of the client:
Intelligence
 Personality traits
 Temperament
 Ethnic background
 Abilities
 Family size
 Family support
 Social network
 Etc.

47
Who are the clients?

Clients, like social workers, vary is several
characteristics, but with one notable exception:

***Most clients that seek help have reached a
point where their coping mechanisms no longer
function.***

Some clients seek services because someone else is
distressed (e.g., a parent, employer, spouse, or other
family member) or because they are referred, appointed
or mandated to seek social services

These clients tend to be less motivated than clients
seeking help for themselves.
48
Which clients tend to fare better in their
treatment outcomes?



Clients who “do their homework” tend to do better. That is,
clients who “complete” assignments given to them by their
therapists (e.g., keep a diary of emotions, etc.) show better
treatment outcomes.
Burns & Spangler (2000) reported that depressed patients who
were homework compliant, reported decreases in depression.
Clients who are cooperative & open tend to have better
treatment outcomes than clients who are resistant & defensive.
(Orlinksy, Grawe, & Parks, 1994).
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RELATIONSHIP FACTORS (30 %)
Factors that influence the quality of the
relationship between therapist and the client:
Perceived empathy
 Acceptance
 Warmth
 Confidence
 Client’s selfexpression
 Etc.

50
Relationship Factors: The Evidence






Krill (1986, p. xi) suggested that the relationship between
a social worker and a client is more likely to be productive
when:
Worker and client like and respect each other.
Client is clearly told what to expect and how to contribute
to the helping process.
Worker is warm, genuine, and sincere and regularly
expresses empathy about the client's experience.
Worker and client engage in goal-directed activities such
as practice, in session tasks, or between-session action
steps.
Worker actively seeks to involve significant persons in the
client's life in the helping process.
51
The quality of
the therapeutic
relationship
between social
worker and
individual or
family is critical
to achieving
successful
outcomes.
52
Characteristics associated with good therapists?
Advanced Training
Good Interpersonal Skills
Good Listening Ability
Genuineness, empathy, &
Unconditional positive regard.
Clients prefer therapists with
advanced training.
Includes communication,
relationship-building, & selfmonitoring skills.
Should be able to listen to clients
& effectively communicate with
them.
These promote rapport with the
client & build trust.
53
HOPE & EXPECTANCY (15 %)
The expectation
of the client that
the therapy will
lead to positive
change
54
MODEL & TECHNIQUE (15 %)
Beliefs
 Techniques
 Procedures
 Etc.

contributing to the therapist’s (theoretical)
frame of reference and practice
55
 Social
workers have long
recognized the importance of
the relationship

McNeill et al (2005) found 3 common
elements which lead to behavior
change or reduction in problem
behaviors:
 Accurate
empathy, respect or warmth
and therapeutic genuineness;
 Establishing a therapeutic relationship or
working alliance
 An approach that is person centered, or
collaborative and client driven
56
Facilitative Qualities


The characteristics of effective helpers are often
called the facilitative qualities or the core
conditions
When consistently demonstrated by
professionals, these aid in developing and
maintaining a special rapport with their clients.

This rapport is sometimes called the helping
relationship, the working relationship, professional
rapport, or the therapeutic alliance.
57
The essential facilitative qualities
become critical because when
social workers consistently reflect
these qualities, the risk of harming
the person-and-situation tends to
decrease and the probability of
helping usually increases.
58
Effective Helpers

Regardless of theoretical orientation and
choice of intervention approach, effective
helpers tend to reflect common
characteristics such as
1.
2.
3.
4.
Empathy
Regard
Authenticity
Professionalism in their service to others.
59
Empathy
One of the Primary Skills to Master
 A process of joining in the feelings of
another, of feeling how and what another
person experiences, and feeling with
another person.
 It is an understanding and appreciation of
the thoughts, feelings, behaviours,
experiences, and circumstances of
another human being.

60
Empathetic Response



A verbal technique that acknowledges you
have heard the client’s emotional content.
No requirement to feel the emotion.
Steps:
1.
2.
3.

Identify the emotion – open-ended questions
Identify its cause
Respond in a way that shows you understand
the connection between 1 and 2
Why is this important?
61
Empathic Listening






A mother recalled of a time when her young daughter
invited her to come outside and play.
At first, the mother intently watched as her daughter
repeatedly hit a tether ball, but soon began to wonder what
her own role was in the game. So she asked her daughter.
In response, the young girl matter-of-factly explained that
every time she was successful in hitting the ball, the mother
should congratulate her and say, “Good job!”
This is, essentially, the role of empathic listening, that of
accompanying another person and celebrating together the
fact that the other can begin to unpack and analyze the
challenges being faced.
In the child’s game, success is measured by the ability to
have the ball and its cord wrap around the post.
In empathic listening, success is measured by the ability to
unpack the often pain-soaked narrative and let it float to the
62
surface.
Empathetic Response: CAUTION
Some clients feel quite uneasy when the
worker is frequently and intensively
empathic.
 They might prefer a formal encounter in
which the worker provides direct advice
and guidance in a business-like fashion.

63
Other Facilitative Factors
Integrity
 Professional knowledge
 Critical thinking and lifelong learning
 Ethical decision making
 Self-understanding and self-control
 Cultural competence and acceptance of
others
 Social support and self-efficacy

64
Regard



The facilitative quality of regard
or respect suggests an attitude
of non-controlling, warm, caring,
unconditional positive regard
non-possessive acceptance of
other persons.
In cross- or inter-cultural
contexts, regard also includes
the genuine acceptance of
difference.
Respect of this nature goes well
beyond basic tolerance to
include appreciation of the value
of diversity in human
communities.
65
Authenticity
Authenticity refers to the genuineness and
sincerity of a person's manner of relating.
Reflecting fundamental honesty, an
authentic social worker is natural, real, and
personable.
 The presentation is congruent so that verbal,
non-verbal, and behavioural expressions
reflect synchronicity.
 Words and deeds match.

66
Professionalism

Includes several characteristics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
integrity,
professional knowledge and self-efficacy,
ethical decision making,
critical thinking and lifelong learning,
self-understanding and self-control,
cultural competence and acceptance of others
social support.
67