Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 04 - Practice with Communication and Interpersonal Skills

Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 04 - Practice with Communication and Interpersonal Skills

title: Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 04 - Practice with Communication and Interpersonal Skills date: 2025-09-19 00:23:45 location: Heritage University tags:

• Heritage University
• MSW Program
• SOWK 530 presentation_video: > “” description: >

Week four is synchronous, with a class session on Saturday (09/20/25). The reading in Hepworth et al. (2023) continues the focus on developing effective communication patterns with our clients. There are forums for students to share how they have developed complex skills, discuss the impact of counterproductive patterns on involuntary clients, and consider their own communication patterns. During the in-person class session, we will practice the following skills and examine our verbal and non-verbal communication patterns. The agenda is as follows:

• Review of and practice with following skills
• Review and examples of verbal and nonverbal behavior
• Barriers to Interviewing

Learning Objectives for this week include:

• Reflect on the process of learning complex interpersonal and communication skills relevant to social work practice.
• Identify and evaluate counterproductive communication patterns that may emerge in interactions with clients, particularly those who are non-voluntary.
• Analyze the ethical and relational implications of counterproductive communication patterns.
• Identify and demonstrate effective use of verbal following skills to facilitate client engagement.
• Practice interpersonal helping skills through role-play scenarios, integrating feedback to improve self-awareness and interviewing effectiveness.
• Evaluate and apply verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to strengthen therapeutic rapport.

Week 04 Plan

Agenda

• Review of and practice with following skills
• Review and examples of verbal and nonverbal behavior
• Barriers to Interviewing

Learning Objectives

• Identify and demonstrate effective use of verbal following skills to facilitate client engagement.
• Practice interpersonal helping skills through role-play scenarios, integrating feedback to improve self-awareness and interviewing effectiveness.
• Evaluate and apply verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to strengthen therapeutic rapport.

Following Skills Tools (1 of 5) - Start

I want to briefly review what chapter six explains as following skills.

Following Skills Tools (2 of 5)

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Following Skills Tools (3 of 5)

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Following Skills Tools (4 of 5)

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Following Skills Tools (5 of 5)

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Furthering responses

One way we draw out conversation is with simple furthering responses.

• Minimal prompts signal the social worker’s attentiveness and encourage the client to continue verbalizing.
  • Nonverbal minimal prompts consist of nodding the head, using facial expressions, or employing gestures that convey receptivity, interest, and commitment to understanding. They implicitly convey the message, “I am with you; please continue.”
  • Verbal minimal prompts consist of brief messages that convey interest and encourage or request expanded verbalizations along the lines of the client’s previous expressions.
• Accent responses involve repeating, in a questioning tone of voice or with emphasis, a word or a short phrase. Suppose a client says, “I’ve really had it with the way my supervisor at work is treating me.” The social worker might reply, “Had it?”

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Reflection responses (1 of 3) Types

Reflection is at the core of what social workers do. There are two basic types of of reflection:

1. Reflection of Content: emphasize the cognitive aspects of client messages, such as situations, ideas, objects, or persons.
2. Reflection of Affect: focus attention on the affective part of the communication. In reflections of affect, social workers relate with responses that accurately capture clients’ affect and help them reflect on and sort through their feelings

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Reflection responses (2 of 3) Example of somebody Sharing Intense Feelings

In the LaGravenese (2007) the Freedom Writers this character shares an intense story from his journal. We are going to watch this short video clip and then talk about reflective responding as an activity. I want to use this clip as a way of considering responding

[Whole Class Activity] Watch the video clip Clip can be found at Freedom Writers (4/9) Movie CLIP - I Am Home (2007) HD

We will often have clients that just share really difficult things such as this. Often there is no best response… and our best response might vary depending. It might be as simple as “thank you for sharing…”

Reflection responses (3 of 3) Strategies

One way of responding to a difficult story, such as the freedom writer clip we watch is through reflective responding. Lets talk about what each of these are:

In thinking about the video clip, we might choose to reflect on the content that was shared, or the affect. There are three general strategies we can think about how we might reflect back to the client. These include:

Simple reflections, which identify the emotions expressed by the client, are carried over from nondirective, client-centered counseling

Showing up at school that first day sounds like you were very anxious.

Complex reflections go beyond what the client has directly stated or implied, adding substantial meaning or emphasis to convey a more complex picture

Showing up at school that first day it sounds like you were very anxious, but that you had a lot of determination to go regardless.

Reframing: is another form of adding content. Here, the social worker puts the client’s response in a different light beyond what the client had considered (Moyers et al., 2003)

When you connected people in your support system, it sounds like it helped you feel more comfortable.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Closed-ended responses

Closed-ended questions define a topic and restrict the client’s response to a few words or a simple yes or no answer.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Open-ended responses

Open-ended questions and statements invite expanded expression and leave the client free to express what seems most relevant and important.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Providing and maintaining focus

The functions of focusing skills include

1. Selecting topics for exploration
2. Exploring topics in depth
3. Managing obstacles to focusing

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Summarizing

We can also further engage our clients using any of the four four distinct facets of summarizing:

1. Highlighting key aspects of discussions of specific problems, strengths, and resources before changing the focus of the discussion
2. Making connections between relevant aspects of lengthy client messages
3. Reviewing major focal points of a session and tasks that clients plan to work on before the next session
4. Recapitulating the highlights of a previous session and reviewing clients’ progress on tasks during the week for the purpose of providing focus and continuity between sessions

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Seeking concreteness (1 of 2)

Seeking concreteness is an important aspect of drawing out information from a client. We can use it to obtain concreteness in a number of areas:

• Checking out Perceptions: Understanding how they view the world
• Clarifying the Meaning of Vague or Unfamiliar Terms: Clients often times use vague terms. What does this actually mean?
• Exploring the Basis of Conclusions Drawn by Clients: Why do they think things are this way
• Assisting Clients in Personalizing Their Statements: Helping understand what it means for them…
  • Focus on self
  • Focus on others
  • Focus on group or relationships
  • Focus on content

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Seeking concreteness (2 of 2)

• Eliciting Specific Feelings: How do they feel more specifically.
• Focusing on the Here and Now: moving out of the past.
• Eliciting Details Related to Clients’ Experiences: What they’ve done
• Eliciting Details Related to Interactional Behavior: How their interactions has been

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Following Skills Review

These are all ways that we help stay connected with our clients as we are engaging with them.

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (1 of 5) Set-Up

We are going to do some dynamic practice with verbal following skills.

You will be in groups of 2 or three. one person will be the social worker, one the client, and if you have three an observer.

I’m going to supply you with some scenarios. For each one, you will have about a total of about seven minutes. That means about a minute or so prep. Consider:

Before: Brainstorm what potential information would you want to know about for this scenario or what are some common experiences for people in this situation

During I have a form, the initial session checklist for the observer to keep track of what they saw.

After: You will debrief

• How did it feel as the interviewer to use the techniques?
• How did it feel as the interviewee?
• What did the observer notice? Share feedback from form

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (2 of 5) Demonstration

[Whole Group Activity] Volunteer demonstrate with instructor in front of the class.

Scenario: You are an MSW student juggling a heavy course load, a part-time job, and family responsibilities. Lately, you have been behind on assignments, struggling to concentrate, and have noticed your grades slipping. You decide to meet with the campus social worker to get some support.

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (3 of 5) - Scenario 1

[Small Group Activity] Engage in dynamic practice activity.

Make sure to consider the beginning, middle, and end activities.

Scenario: You are a freshman college student. You went to a student health clinic because you were having difficulty sleeping and were experiencing anxiety. They have referred you to the counseling clinic for an assessment. You are anxious about this referral, wondering if it means that you are going crazy. You are homesick and miss the people back home. You sometimes wonder if you are ready for this. You have begun to drink with people in the dorm; it makes you feel less lonely.

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (4 of 5) - Scenario 2

[Small Group Activity] Engage in dynamic practice activity.

Make sure to consider the beginning, middle, and end activities.

Scenario: Estrella (or Erik) was referred to a social worker at the battered women’s shelter by a friend. The friend urged her to come to get help because the friend felt that Estrella was being abused by her husband. Estrella feels conflicted because she acknowledges that there is some violence, but feels that marriage is sacred, that she should be loyal, and that things will just work out.

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (5 of 5) - Scenario 3

[Small Group Activity] Engage in dynamic practice activity.

Make sure to consider the beginning, middle, and end activities.

Scenario: You have been homeless for the last few months after a relationship ended. You have been couch surfing and staying with various friends. You are seeing a therapist and they referred you to case manager to help find options around housing and to practice working on some coping skills.

Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior

Any aspect of a person’s presence that conveys ideas or information without being spoken is nonverbal communication. In communication in general, there are six basic parts of communication:

1. Attentive listening
2. Eye contact
3. Facial expressions
4. Body positioning
5. Paraverbal
6. Verbal

As we think about these verbal and non verbal aspects, we should also be thinking about this threefold task:

(1) to assess your repetitive nonverbal behaviors (2) to eliminate nonverbal styles that hinder effective communication (3) to sustain and perhaps increase desirable nonverbal behaviors

Attentive Listening

The opposite of talking isn’t listening. The opposite of talking is waiting. ~ Fran Lebowitz

Attentive listening implies more than just audio reception of the words that are said. It focuses on comprehending the meaning of what is said. This can be called physical attending.

It takes really focusing on the person that you are talking to.

Psychomotor Behavior (Body Positioning/Posture)

Our posture and body positioning is important in thinking about is one way that we provide information to others.

We can think about four quadrants:

• Tension vs. Relaxed Positions
• Open vs. Closed positions

When working with clients it is important how you present yourself nonverbally.

[Activity] Have a student act out what it might look like to be tense vs. relaxed.

• Tension
  • Extreme tension could convey lack of confidence or excessive nervousness.
  • It could cause distance between you and the client and they may have a difficult time feeling comfortable or trusting you.
• Relaxed
  • But on the other hand being too relaxed could give the impression that you do not care much about what happens
  • It could damage your professional credibility.

Posture

Recommended

• Arms and hands moderately expressive; appropriate gestures
• Body leaning slightly forward; attentive but relaxed

Not Recommended

• Rigid body position; arms tightly folded
• Body turned at an angle to client
• Fidgeting with hands
• Squirming or rocking in chair
• Leaning back or placing feet on desk
• Hand or fingers over mouth
• Pointing finger for emphasis

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Eye contact

We don’t want to have no eye contact and we don’t want to have constant eye contact. We want to have moderate eye contact, which is somewhere in between no eye contact and constant eye contact.

Not extremes…

• No Eye Contact
• Constant Eye Contact
• Moderate Eye Contact

We should remember:

• Purpose: Eye contact is important in establishing rapport with clients.
• Variability: It is important to remember that eye contact varies among different cultural backgrounds.
• Significance:
  • The inability to make eye contact could mean that someone is afraid or insecure, it might also imply disinterest or dishonesty.
  • On the other hand maintaining constant eye contact can be intimidating or make someone uncomfortable.
  • Eye contact is a complex nonverbal behavior.

Facial Expressions

[Activity] What emotion are each of these facial features expressing?

Have each image and have students try to guess

• Like everything in SW, It’s about self evaluation
  • Not only are are we looking at the facial features or affect of the client, but become aware of our own.
  • Are our facial expressions corresponding with our other nonverbal behavior and what we are saying?
• Facial expressions provide an excellent means of communication.
• Facial expressions can be used to reinforce what is said verbally and emphasize the fact that you mean what you say.
• We need to be concerned about if we have incongruence and leakage (e.g. feelings about client leaked out)

Images from (Mizgajski & Morzy, 2019)

Facial Expressions

For both facial features and eye contact the following are the recommendations based in the Hepworth et al. (2023) text.

Recommended

• Direct eye contact (except when culturally proscribed)
• Warmth and concern reflected in facial expression
• Eyes at same level as client’s
• Appropriately varied and animated facial expressions
• Mouth relaxed; occasional smiles

Not Recommended

• Avoidance of eye contact
• Staring or fixating on person or object
• Lifting eyebrow critically
• Eye level higher or lower than client’s
• Nodding head excessively
• Yawning
• Frozen or rigid facial expressions
• Inappropriate slight smile
• Pursing or biting lips

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Body Positioning

[Activity] Class participant to demonstrate space. (Clinicians should be at the closer end of social)

• Distance
  • The use of personal space or distance between you and the client is a part of body positioning.

Physical Proximity

Recommended

• Three to five feet between chairs

Not recommended

• Excessive closeness or distance
• Talking across desk or other barrier

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Paraverbal Communication

Paraverbal communication is the how we say the things we say, not the words we use.

[Discussion] What is each

• Tone
• Volume
• Cadence

Tone of Voice (1 of 5) - How

[Whole Class Activity] Have students go around and put emphasis on different words in the sentence “how can I help you.”

Emphasis on “how”

Tone of Voice (2 of 5) - Can

[Whole Class Activity] Have students go around and put emphasis on different words in the sentence “how can I help you.”

Emphasis on “can”

Tone of Voice (3 of 5) - I

[Whole Class Activity] Have students go around and put emphasis on different words in the sentence “how can I help you.”

Emphasis on “I”

Tone of Voice (4 of 5) - Help

[Whole Class Activity] Have students go around and put emphasis on different words in the sentence “how can I help you.”

Emphasis on “help”

Tone of Voice (5 of 5) - You

[Whole Class Activity] Have students go around and put emphasis on different words in the sentence “how can I help you.”

Emphasis on “you”

Voice

Recommended

• Clearly audible but not loud
• Warmth in tone of voice
• Voice modulated to reflect nuances of feeling and emotional tone of client messages
• Moderate speech tempo

Not Recommended

• Mumbling or speaking inaudibly
• Monotonic voice
• Halting speech
• Frequent grammatical errors
• Prolonged silences
• Excessively animated speech
• Slow, rapid, or staccato speech
• Nervous laughter
• Consistent clearing of throat
• Speaking loudly

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Inappropriate Interviewing Technique Barriers

The following is a list of inappropriate interviewing techniques…
 [Whole Class Activity] Break up into groups of three or 4, look at this list and 2 or three of barriers… and plan a way to demonstrate or show this.

See p. 135 in book

_ Stacking questions _ Asking leading questions _ Interrupting inappropriately or excessively _ Dominating the interaction _ Keeping discussion focused on safe topics _ Responding infrequently _ Parroting or overusing certain phrases or clichés _ Vague effusive positivity _ Dwelling on the remote past _ Tangential exploration _ Failing to be aware of implicit and cognitive bias

(Hepworth et al., 2023)