Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 07 - Counterproductive Communication

Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 07 - Counterproductive Communication

title: Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 07 - Counterproductive Communication date: 10-06-25 location: Heritage University tags:

• Heritage University
• BASW Program
• SOWK 486w presentation_video: > “” description: >

Week seven and the topic of counterproductive communication builds on week six, which generally looks at just skills related to communication. Communication happens all of the time, and through both verbal and nonverbal patterns. As social workers, we have an obligation to look at how we are communicating and make an attempt to not be putting up barriers to have communication flow freely. The agenda for class this week is as follows:

• Parts and best practices of verbal and nonverbal communication
• Verbal communication
• Barriers to communication

Learning objectives include:

• Identify and describe common counterproductive communication patterns and interviewing roadblocks.
• Evaluate and apply verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to strengthen therapeutic rapport.
• Reflect on how implicit bias and personal communication styles influence engagement.

Big Bang Theory Video Clip

[Whole Class Activity] Watch the video clip.

Sheldon uses some counterproductive communication patterns. While, with the relationship that Sheldon has with Penny, he seems to be effective. Today we are spending time talking about some of the what not to do.

Week Seven Plan

Agenda

• Parts and best practices of verbal and nonverbal communication
• Verbal communication
• Barriers to communication

Learning objectives

• Identify and describe common counterproductive communication patterns and interviewing roadblocks.
• Evaluate and apply verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to strengthen therapeutic rapport.
• Reflect on how implicit bias and personal communication styles influence engagement.

Preparation for In-Class Teach Back

Students are to prepare to share information and have a discussion with classmates about their selected area. Students may choose to create a presentation that can be completed during class. The goal is to help classmates know how to assess for the given topic and have a group discussion about the topic.

• Assessing Biophysical Functioning (pp. 168-172)
• Assessing Cognitive/Perceptual Functioning (pp. 172-176)
• Assessing Affective Functioning (pp. 176-180)
• Assessing Behavioral Functioning (pp. 180-182)
• Assessing Environmental System (pp. 182-186)

Content can be shared through providing information, group discussion, demonstration.

[Whole Group Activity] Select Topics

Have class divide into five groups (Potentially number students off). Race to answer questions

1. Tell me three of the inappropriate interviewing techniques:

1. Stacking questions
2. Asking leading questions
3. Interrupting inappropriately or excessively
4. Dominating the interaction
5. Keeping discussion focused on safe topics
6. Responding infrequently
7. Parroting or overusing certain phrases or clichés
8. Vague effusive positivity
9. Dwelling on the remote past
10. Tangential exploration
11. Failing to be aware of implicit and cognitive bias (p. 134)

1. Tell me three of the inappropriate interviewing techniques:

Tell me three more

1. What is one verbal communication behavior that can contributes barriers?

1. Reassuring, sympathizing, consoling, or excusing
2. Advising and giving suggestions or solutions prematurely
3. Using sarcasm or employing humor that is distracting or makes light of clients’ problems
4. Judging, criticizing, or placing blame
5. Trying to convince the client about the right point of view through logical arguments, lecturing, instructing, or arguing
6. Making a declaration rather than inviting a discussion about options
7. Threatening, warning, or counterattacking (p. 129)

1. What is one verbal communication behavior that can contributes barriers?

Tell me one more

Group who hasn’t answered is last.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Verbal and Nonverbal Behavior

How we manage and deal with verbal and non verbal behavior has a lot to do with how we are able to communicate. [Discussion] Who has seen Lie to Me?

[Activity] Watch Lie to Me Intro video

Lie to Me is not actually exactly accurate, but there is some truth.

• Human interaction and communication involve both verbal and nonverbal behavior.
• Verbal behavior is what is being said.
• Non verbal behavior is communication in ways other than spoken words.
• People communicate by…
  • Facial expressions
  • Hand movements
  • Eye contact
  • Sitting position
  • Proximity
• Any aspect of a person’s presence that conveys ideas or information without being spoken is nonverbal communication.

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. it can be intimidating or make someone uncomfortable.

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)

Verbal Communication

There can be barriers to verbal communication through the messages we try to send in our verbal communication.

Every time we communicate a message with another person or group of people, there is an intent and an impact. At both of these levels, there can be barriers.

• Message

• Barriers in …
• Intent

• Impact

• In Intent
  • The client may be using words, phrases, or concepts that are not clear to you.
  • The client may be saying something vague, and their intent is not what you interpret.
• In Environment
  • Thinking what your going to say next
  • Phones ringing
  • Home visits
  • Children
• In Impact
  • Concerns regarding crisis
  • Personal problems
  • Biases

(Kirst-Ashman and Hull, 2015)

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (1 of 2) - Scenario 2

We ran out of time. Be thinking about your following skills and your verbal communication in this activity.

[Small Group Activity] Engage in dynamic practice activity.

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

Scenario: You were referred to domestic violence services by a friend who is concerned about the behaviors that your significant other has been engaging in and is hoping that you will seek further help. You feel conflicted, acknowledging that there is some violence, but feel that marriage is sacred, that you should be loyal, and that things will just work out.

Dynamic Practice with Following Skills (2 of 2) - 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.

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (1 of 4)

Communication is one area of constant and incremental improvement for everybody. I had an interesting experience when I was living in South America. I had gone down to Lima to get my camera fixed, and on my bus ride I ran into some problems.

Story about trip from Lima to Cusco

• From 21 hours to 36 hours
• Protest about governmental officials in province
• People blocking the road, throwing rocks, and painting vehicles

Generally our clients don’t throw rocks at us, but our communication, rapport, and ability to work with our clients will be improved when we reduce our roadblocks to effective communication.

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (2 of 4)

While Hepworth lays out 7 different road blocks, Gordon (2003) describes 12 different ones. They are all incorporated in parts of the the ones described by the book. I wanted to spend some time discussing these.

[Whole Class Activity] Discuss what each roadblock might look like in communication.

1. Ordering, directing, commanding
2. Warning, admonishing, threatening
3. Exhorting, moralizing, preaching
4. Advising and giving solutions or suggestions
5. Lecturing, teaching, giving logical arguments
6. Judging, criticizing, disagreeing, blaming

(Gordon, 2003)

-> For information sake, the 7 roadblocks described by Hepworth

1. Reassuring, sympathizing, consoling, or excusing
2. Advising and giving suggestions or solutions prematurely
3. Using sarcasm or employing humor that is distracting or makes light of clients’ problems
4. Judging, criticizing, or placing blame
5. Trying to convince the client about the right point of view through logical arguments, lecturing, instructing, or arguing
6. Analyzing, diagnosing, or making glib or dogmatic interpretations
7. Threatening, warning, or counterattacking

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (3 of 4)

1. Praising, agreeing
2. Name calling, ridiculing, shaming
3. Interpreting, analyzing, diagnosing
4. Reassuring, sympathizing, consoling, supporting
5. Probing, questioning, interrogating
6. Withdrawing, distracting, humoring, diverting

[Discussion] Do we ever do any of these?

Twelve Communication Roadblocks (4 of 4)

[Small Group Activity] Talk with a partner about how you sometimes fall into counter productive communication patters. You do not need to be overly personal, but it is helpful for everybody to recognize that we can improve our communication patterns. Please consider sharing any of the following, you do not have to go though all of the points:

• What counterproductive communication pattern you do
• How have you seen counterproductive communication impact a conversation
• A personal story about counterproductive communication in your life
• A way that you try to use positive communication patters in your life

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)