Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 04 - Overview of the Helping Process

Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 04 - Overview of the Helping Process

title: Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 04 - Overview of the Helping Process date: 2025-09-12 12:30:28 location: Heritage University tags:

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

Week four is a continuation of laying the groundwork for this course. It is focused on providing an overview of the helping process. The Hepworth et al. (2023) text formats the helping process into three phases.

• Phase 1: Exploration, Engagement, Assessment, and Planning
• Phase II: Implementation and Goal Attainment
• Phase III: Evaluation and Termination

During the session, we will be examining an overview of considerations we should have in each of the phases. We will also be looking at how we set the environment with our clients and what the interviewing process looks like. Finally, we will spend some time discussing some potential ethical dilemmas. The agenda is:

• Overview of the three phases of the helping process
• Setting the environment
• Interviewing clients
• Practice with ethical dilemmas

The learning objectives this week include:

• Describe the three phases of the helping process and identify key tasks associated with each phase.
• Demonstrate strategies for creating a supportive environment during client interviews, including setting, preparedness, and rapport-building.
• Practice and evaluate techniques for starting the interview, engaging clients, and initiating assessment.
• Identify behaviors and communication styles that enhance or inhibit client trust and motivation.
• Analyze ethical dilemmas using professional values and guidelines to inform decision-making in complex situations.

The Plan for Week Four

Agenda

• Overview of the three phases of the helping process
• Setting the environment
• Interviewing clients
• Practice with ethical dilemmas

Learning Objectives

• Describe the three phases of the helping process and identify key tasks associated with each phase.
• Demonstrate strategies for creating a supportive environment during client interviews, including setting, preparedness, and rapport-building.
• Practice and evaluate techniques for starting the interview, engaging clients, and initiating assessment.
• Identify behaviors and communication styles that enhance or inhibit client trust and motivation.
• Analyze ethical dilemmas using professional values and guidelines to inform decision-making in complex situations.

First Impressions: Who Would You Want to Meet

Making a good impression is essential.

[Small Group Activity] Think of a person you would want to meet in history. Ask them to imagine that they have won a competition to meet and interview that person this afternoon for a local TV station. Talk with a partner about the following:

• What would you do?
• What would you wear?
• How would you feel?

[Whole Class Activity - Discussion] Lead the discussion to get them to recognize they would make an effort with their appearance and their behavior because they wanted to impress the person.

Relate this to making a good impression with clients and colleagues.

• appearance
• body language
• greeting
• answering a query / helping the customer
• housekeeping and tidiness

Activity based on Customer Service Training Helper (n.d.).

[Whole Group Activity] Share a positive first impression that you had of somebody and how it impacted your relationship with them.

Phases of the Helping Process

There are three phases outlined in the text regarding the helping process. This semester, we will be going more in-depth through them as the weeks go on. Today is intended to be an introduction to the overall process.

Phase I: Exploration, Engagement, Assessment, and Planning Phase II: Implementation and Goal Attainment Phase III: Evaluation and Termination

[Whole Group Activity] Does helping need to be structured in a systemic process like this? What are some of the potential benefits or challenges to having it structured like this?

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase I: Exploration, Engagement, Assessment, and Planning

Exploring Clients’ Problems

For every one of us, first impressions matter. The first meeting with a client is important and we should attempt to make it as good as possible. Consider the activity we started with this morning thinking about first impressions.

Explaining the process the, the services, and yourself

• Potential clients may be anxious about the prospect of seeking help and lack knowledge about what to expect
• First impressions.

[Small Group Activity] Practice what you might say at your practicum.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Establishing rapport and enhancing motivation - Rapport

Rapport is one of the most critical aspects of the client-clinician relationship and is highly related to positive outcomes. This rapport can also be connected to a client’s motivation and willingness to change.

[Partner Group Activity] Talk to a partner about somebody with whom you have a robust rapport. Talk about how that relationship is, and how you know that you have a good rapport with them.

[Small Group Activity] Turn your partners into groups of four, and discuss how you know that you have a good rapport with that person, what it looks like

[Whole Class Activity] Brainstorm writing on the whiteboard, potential ways of developing rapport with clients.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Strategies and Behaviors that Improve Client Trust (1 of 2)

Leach (2015) describes some strategies and behaviors that improve client trust, communication, and rapport.

Maintain

• Client comfort
• Confidentiality & trust
• Enthusiasm
• A collaborative relationship
• Interest in client concerns
• Objectivity
• Attentiveness
• Eye contact
• An open posture

Avoid

• Passing judgment
• Jargon and technical language
• An authoritarian demeanor
• Interruptions

Strategies and Behaviors that Improve Client Trust (2 of 2)

Leach goes on to talk about how we should be and what we should use.

Be

• Dependable
• Open minded
• Flexible
• Reassuring & supportive
• Confident
• Friendly
• Genuine
• Warm
• Sincere
• Honest
• Empowering
• Engaging and interactive
• Respectful of client wishes and needs
• Sensitive
• Empathetic
• Altruistic

Use

• Open-ended questions
• Rationales for procedures, treatments, and decisions

Who’s Guiding the Interview

[Activity] Watch the video clip from The Office: Who’s Leading the Interview

[Whole Class Activity] Who was leading the interview

This is not what we want to happen in our session.

Starting the Interview (1 of 5) Overview

With this understanding of the importance of both starting the client/worker relationship and developing rapport, the start of the interview is where this begins. Kirst-Ashman and Hull (2015) describe strategies we should be using as we start an interview. These include:

• Purpose
• Setting
• Preparedness
• Starting

Starting the Interview (2 of 5) Purpose

Making sure that we are clear as to what the purpose is

Discuss the way the concept of an interview is.

• The primary goal of any interview is effective communication with the client.
• Interviews make use of communication with clients to solve problems, encourage positive change, and promote clients’ well-being.

(Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015)

Starting the Interview (3 of 5) Setting

Thinking about the setting of the interview is also essential.

• Variety of Settings: The interview setting can occur in a variety of settings depending on the field of practice and type of agency.
• How do we present ourselves?
  • When deciding how to dress for an interview, it is important to remember that your general appearance will make an impression.
  • You want to be aware of how the clients react to how you dress.
• Timeliness Be prompt so that the client sees that you feel the time spent with them is crucial.

(Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015)

Office Setup

I’m not going to tell you how to set up your office… I’m not going to say to you, “sit behind a desk!” or “don’t sit behind a desk.”

[Whole Group Activity] Discuss considerations related to office set up.

• What do you believe is important to think about when you evaluate your meeting space?
• What is important to think about when you are evaluating your meeting space in some other location?

We should be thinking about what we do, why we do it, and how we do it. Reevaluating our practice.

Starting the Interview (4 of 5) Preparedness

To make a positive impression, we should be prepared before the interview.

• What information do you need to gather?
• How long is the interview time frame (i.e., when it is to start and when it is to end).
• Identify the purpose: you should have an idea of what you want to accomplish by the end of the interview.

(Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015)

Starting the Interview (5 of 5) Starting

Once we have determined the purpose, setting, and are prepared… we actually have to start the interview.

• Greeting
  • Initial introductions, names are exchanged with typical pleasantries such as “It’s nice to meet you.”
  • Using surnames is a good idea since it implies greater respect
  • Handshakes are often appropriate when culturally appropriate.
  • [Discussion] Regarding surnames / formal language (ES)
• Alleviate clients’ anxiety (think unknown)
  • Alleviating the client’s anxiety, you do this by starting where the client is or putting yourself in the client’s shoes.
  • The client may have many questions as to what to expect from the interview, and this causes anxiety, or you may get someone who is forced to see you, and it will be important for you to use your empathy skills at this point to help the client feel less agitated.
  • Portray confidence and competence

Discuss how I generally start my initial contact

• Beginning statement of purpose and role.
• Clearly explain the interview’s purpose to the client
• The workers’ role to the client
• Encouraging the client to share thoughts and feelings about the interview and what’s being said
• Make a statement about the usefulness of the intervention process

(Kirst-Ashman & Hull, 2015)

The Initial Interview

This initial interview introduction could be used to present for your role-play video (along with some further questions related to an assessment).

[Whole Class Activity] Demonstrate the initial interview process

• Beginning statement of purpose and role.
• Clearly explain the interview’s purpose to the client
• Describe the worker’s role to the client
• Encouraging the client to share thoughts and feelings about the interview and what’s being said
• Make a statement about the usefulness of the intervention process

[Small Group Activity] Working with partners, practice doing this initial part of the interview.

[Whole Class Activity] Have one or two volunteers come and do the initial part as well.

Interview Structure

Effective interviews conform to a general structure, share specific properties, and reflect the interviewer’s use of basic skills.

• Rapport with clients fosters open and free communication, which is the hallmark of compelling interviews.
• Starting with client motivation aids social workers in establishing and sustaining rapport and in maintaining psychological contact with clients.
• When ethnic minority and immigrant clients have virtually no command of the English language, effective communication requires the use of an interpreter of the same ethnicity as the client, so that the social worker and client bridge both cultural value differences and language differences.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Discussing Problematic Situations

When clients indicate that they are ready to discuss their problematic situations, it is appropriate to begin the process of exploring their concerns.

• Before exploring problems, it is important to determine clients’ expectations…
• Cultural Differences: can vary considerably and are influenced by socioeconomic level, cultural background, level of sophistication, and previous experience with helping professionals.
• During the exploration process, the social worker assesses the significance of information revealed as the client discusses problems and interacts with the social worker, group members, or significant others.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Focus in Depth

In addition to possessing discrete skills needed to elicit detailed information, social workers must be able to maintain the focus on problems until they have elicited comprehensive information.

• Outlines that list essential questions to be answered for a given situation or problem can prove extremely helpful to beginning social workers.
• During the process of exploration, social workers must be keenly sensitive to clients’ moment-to-moment emotional reactions and to the part that emotional patterns play in their difficulties.
• Because thought patterns, beliefs, and attitudes are powerful determinants of behavior, it is vital to explore clients’ opinions and interpretations of those circumstances and events deemed salient to their difficulties.
• Because of the prevalence and magnitude of problems associated with substance abuse, violence, and sexual abuse in society, the possibility that these problems contribute to or represent the primary source of clients’ difficulties should be routinely explored.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Process of Goal Negotiation

Social workers introduce the process of goal negotiation by explaining the rationale for formulating the goals.

• Ending the interview process During the final portion of the interview process, social workers should suggest the length and frequency of sessions, who will participate in them, the means of accomplishing goals, the duration of the helping period, fees, and other relevant matters.
• Continued use of interviewing skills: During Phase II of the helping process, interviewing skills are used to help clients accomplish their goals.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Establishing rapport and enhancing motivation - Other

Along with rapport, there are other important factors that we need to consider as we think about the clinician’s goal of establishing rapport and enhancing motivation.

• Strengths-based approach
  • [Whole Class Activity] Discuss what a strengths-based approach is.
  • Discuss functional strengths vs. strengths
  • Assists in both establishing rapport and enhancing motivation.
• Stages of change
  • especially pre-contemplation and contemplation

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Assessment

Formulating a multidimensional assessment of the problem, identifying systems that play a significant role in the difficulties, and identifying relevant resources that can be tapped or must be developed

“Exploration begins by attending to the emotional states and immediate concerns manifested by the client. Gradually, the social worker broadens the exploration to encompass relevant systems (individual, interpersonal, and environmental) and explores the most critical aspects of the problem in depth.” (Hepworth et al., 2023, p. 40)

Formulating a multidimensional assessment

Formulating a multidimensional assessment of the problem, identifying systems that play a significant role in the difficulties, and identifying relevant resources that can be tapped or must be developed

Social workers end up taking moment-by-moment assessments of a client…

• Behavior
• Thoughts
• Beliefs
• Emotions
• Information revealed (during an interview)

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Goals

Mutually negotiating goals to be accomplished in remedying or alleviating problems and formulating a contract

• Formulating a contract
• Solution-focused approach

[Whole Group Activity] Relate to experience

• My view of solution-focused brief therapy
• Discussion week two

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Making referrals

Another important aspect of the first phase of the helping process is that of making referrals.

“Linking clients to other resource systems requires careful handling if clients are to follow through in seeking and obtaining essential resources.”

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase II: Implementation and Goal Attainment

implementation and goal attainment are the second phase of the helping process.

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase II: Implementation and Goal Attainment (1 of 2)

There are several goals and tasks that a clinician must accomplish during the implementation and goal attainment phase. These include…

1. Prioritize goals into general and specific tasks
2. Select and implement interventions
3. Plan task implementation, enhancing self-efficacy
4. Maintain focus within sessions

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase II: Implementation and Goal Attainment (2 of 2)

1. Maintain continuity between sessions
2. Monitor progress
3. Identify and address barriers to change
4. Employ appropriate self-disclosure and assertiveness to facilitate change

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase II: Implementation and Goal Attainment

several factors need to be evaluated as a part of the implementation and goal attainment phase. These include

• Enhancing self-efficacy: “an expectation or belief that one can accomplish tasks or perform behaviors associated with specified goals”
• Monitoring progress
  • We monitor for progress because…
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of change in strategies and interventions
  • To guide efforts toward goal attainment
  • To keep abreast of the client’s progress or lack of progress
  • To concentrate on goal attainment and evaluate progress
• Barriers to goal attainment
  • Can be micro, mezzo, and macro
• Relational reactions
  • Trigger (both client and clinician)
  • Transference
  • Counter-transference
• Enhancing clients’ self-awareness
  • Use of therapeutic techniques (empathetic responses)
  • Difference between additive empathetic response (interpretation, confronting) and reciprocal empathetic response (i.e., restating, rephrasing, summarizing)
• Use of self
  • Genuineness (basic skills along with empathy and warmth)
  • Assertive about boundaries
  • Self-disclosure simple, not detailed, purposeful

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase III: Evaluation and Termination - Tasks

1. Assessing when client goals have been satisfactorily attained
2. Helping the client develop strategies that maintain change and continue growth following the termination
3. Successfully terminating the helping relationship

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Phase III: Evaluation and Termination - Considerations

• Successfully terminating the helping relationship (difficulty of returning to an environment)
• Planning change maintenance strategies
• Importance of following up

(Hepworth et al., 2023)

Ethics Case 1 (1 of 4)

A classmate has told you that they are Googling clients from their field agency as well as looking them up on Facebook. They state that the information is public, so there is no confidentiality involved, and the more they learn about them the better they can help them. In your own placement, workers send Snapchat messages to each other of the wacky ways clients dress and behave. They say it builds camaraderie in the team and is harmless since the photos and comments go away after only a few seconds.

Consider:

• What conflicting principles and values are in play in the case?
• What are the pros and cons of the various courses of action?
• What guidelines are applicable in resolving this dilemma?
• What resources could you consult to help you decide on an ethical course of action?

[Small Group Activity] Discuss ethics case study [Whole Group Activity] Debrief activity

(Hepworth et al., 2023, p. 75)

Ethics Case 2 (2 of 4)

You are forming a youth group in a state correctional facility. From past experience, you know that members sometimes make references in the group to previous offenses that they have committed without being apprehended. You also know that they may talk about indiscretions or misdemeanors they (or others) may have committed or plan to commit within the institution, such as smoking marijuana, engaging in sexual encounters, receiving contraband from visitors, or stealing supplies or property from peers or staff. Are you required to share all the information you learn in the group? How can you encourage trust and sharing if there are limits to confidentiality?

Consider:

• What conflicting principles and values are in play in the case?
• What are the pros and cons of the various courses of action?
• What guidelines are applicable in resolving this dilemma?
• What resources could you consult to help you decide on an ethical course of action?

[Small Group Activity] Discuss the ethics case study [Whole Group Activity] Debrief activity

(Hepworth et al., 2023, p. 75)

Ethics Case 3 (3 of 4)

In conducting an intake interview with a young woman in a family agency, you observe that both of her young children are withdrawn and listless. Throughout the interview, the client seems defensive, suspicious, and appears ambivalent about having come for the interview. At one point, she states that she feels overwhelmed with her parenting responsibilities and is having difficulty in coping with her children. She also alludes to her fear that she may hurt them but then abruptly changes the subject. As you encourage her to return to the discussion of her problems with the children, your client says that she has changed her mind about wanting help, takes her children in hand, and hastily leaves the office.

Consider:

• What conflicting principles and values are in play in the case?
• What are the pros and cons of the various courses of action?
• What guidelines are applicable in resolving this dilemma?
• What resources could you consult to help you decide on an ethical course of action?

[Small Group Activity] Discuss the ethics case study [Whole Group Activity] Debrief activity

(Hepworth et al., 2023, p. 75)

Ethics Case 4 (4 of 4)

You have been working in a mental health agency with a middle-aged male who has a history, when angered, of becoming violent and physically abusive. He has been under extreme psychological pressure lately because of increased expectations at work. In an interview today, he is extremely angry, clenching his fists as he tells you that his boss is giving him a hard time, singling him out for criticism, and threatening that he will lose his job. “If that happens,” he says, “they’ll be sorry.”

Consider:

• What conflicting principles and values are in play in the case?
• What are the pros and cons of the various courses of action?
• What guidelines are applicable in resolving this dilemma?
• What resources could you consult to help you decide on an ethical course of action?

[Small Group Activity] Discuss the ethics case study [Whole Group Activity] Debrief activity

(Hepworth et al., 2023, p. 75)