Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 10 - Planning Planning and Implementing Change-Oriented Strategies
Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 10 - Planning Planning and Implementing Change-Oriented Strategies
title: Fall 2025 SOWK 486w Week 10 - Planning Planning and Implementing Change-Oriented Strategies date: 2025-10-27 11:23:01 location: Heritage University tags:
- Heritage University
- BASW Program
- SOWK 486w presentation_video: > “” description: >
Planning is an integral part of working with clients. After we have assessed their needs, we need to help develop goals for our clients to work on as we move into the intervention stage of the planned change process. Students will read two chapters from Hepworth et al. (2023) focused on developing goals and the types of interventions we might choose to engage our clients in. During class, we will explore goal-setting and goal-creation. The following is the agenda for the class session.
- Course content discussion (feedback, papers, and upcoming assignment)
- Information about goals
- The six steps to planning
- Practice doing the planning process
The learning objectives this week include:
- Explain the purpose, function, and types of goals used in social work practice.
- Apply the six-step planning process to develop goals collaboratively.
Week 10 Plan
Agenda
- Course content discussion (feedback, papers, and upcoming assignment)
- Information about goals
- The six steps to planning
- Practice doing the planning process
Learning Objectives
- Explain the purpose, function, and types of goals used in social work practice.
- Apply the six-step planning process to develop goals collaboratively.
Feedback from Papers
I felt pretty good about the papers that I reviewed. I give a lot of feedback? I am open in other outside spaces or here to talk about feedback.
A-04a Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play
Assignment 04: Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play and Reflection Paper
Worth 200 points, or 50% of the student’s final grade, the assignment has two parts, each worth 100 points. The Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play is a key assignment1 for the social work program. This assignment allows you to view yourself as a social worker conducting an interview. The Interviewing Skills Reflection Paper provides a space to self-critique your engagement and interviewing skills.
Assignment 04a: Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play
Meta: Points 100 pts (25% of student’s final grade); Deadline Monday 11/17/25 by 08:00 AM; Completion Students submit through Anthology Portfolio (My Heritage Assignments); Locations See the Handout Compress a Video to Reduce the File Size (Desktop Computer), MyHeritage Assignment, Syllabus Assignment Handout;
Purpose: The Interviewing Skills Video Role-Play supports students in confirming the acquisition of interviewing skills through the application of person in the environment, empathetic responding, reflective responding, and other interpersonal skills.
Task: Students will work with a partner to record a 15 to 20-minute interview. The interview should be a role-play of an initial meeting between a social worker and a fictional client. Students have the freedom to develop their settings for the interview. This assignment is designed to offer the student the opportunity to demonstrate engagement, the sixth competency described by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). The following is the language used in the 2022 education and policy standards (EPAS):
Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
Social workers understand that engagement is an ongoing component of the dynamic and interactive process of social work practice with and on behalf of individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.
Social workers value the importance of human relationships. Social workers understand theories of human behavior and person-in-environment and critically evaluate and apply this knowledge to facilitate engagement with clients and constituencies, including individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Social workers are self-reflective and understand how bias, power, and privilege as well as their personal values and personal experiences may affect their ability to engage effectively with diverse clients and constituencies. Social workers use the principles of interprofessional collaboration to facilitate engagement with clients, constituencies, and other professionals as appropriate.
Social workers:
a. apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies; and b. use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to engage in culturally responsive practice with clients and constituencies. (p. 11)
The following are the instructions for this assignment:
- Students will record a 15 to 20-minute role-play with a classmate. To complete this, students should use a tripod or stable surface to record the role-play with a cell phone or other recording device.
- Each student’s role-play will have three parts: (1) introduce the role-play setting, (2) complete the client interview using listening and attending skills discussed and practiced in class, and (3) debrief the role-play with your partner.
- The intention is to demonstrate your ability to use attentive listening, open-ended questions, empathetic responding, and other skills. The focus is not on solving the person’s problem or difficulties.
- Students can do each of the three parts with the camera rolling. During the debrief with your partner, discuss (a) the things that you said/did that helped the other person feel comfortable and open up, (b) the things that you could have improved, and (c) any suggestions or feedback from your partner.
- After completing the first interview, switch roles and do another 15 to 20-minute role play following the same format.
- Each student should upload their final video of them as the interviewer to Anthology Portfolio for the instructor’s assessment.
- Your video may be too large to upload to Anthology Portfolio and needs to be compressed. Appendix D provides step-by-step directions with screenshots for reducing the file size of your video.
Success: Each student will submit a video of themselves that demonstrates their use of interviewing skills. Grades will be based on the Engagement Practice Behaviors Rubric, which evaluates students based on the CSWE competency six. Feedback from the instructor will be completed by final Grades, due Wednesday, 12/17/25, at 5:00 PM.
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Heritage University’s social work program selects assignments across the curriculum for students to demonstrate each of the practice behaviors defined by the CSWE to act as key assignments. These assignments are submitted to Heritage’s online portfolio, Anthology Portfolio, and given to all students at each site using the same grading rubric. Student scores help provide data for faculty to self-evaluate the program. ↩
Practice Behaviors Rubric
The practice behaviors rubric assesses the CSWE competency six for the interviewing skills video role-play.
| Description | Initial | Emerging | Developed | Highly Developed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment [HBSE] and practice context to engage the client | Demonstrates lack of knowledge of HBSE and practice context through the use of inappropriate strategies or questions. | Demonstrates some HBSE and practice knowledge, but the interviewer also shows some misunderstandings. | Demonstrates a basic fundamental understanding of HBSE and practice context knowledge but may have some gaps in applying appropriate strategies. | Utilizes strategies, including choice of language, level of assertiveness, etc., that is appropriate for the individual client based on knowledge of HBSE and practice context |
| Use empathy to engage the client effectively. | Communicates judgmental statements during the interview and does not help the client to feel understood. | Demonstrates beginning skills at empathy but has lapses that communicate judgment of the client or create an atmosphere that is too formal to build trust. | Demonstrates a sufficient amount of empathy and understanding. There are very few statements that might be perceived as judgmental. | Demonstrates empathy and understanding throughout the entire client interaction. Refrains from statements that might be perceived as judgmental. |
| Use reflection to engage the client effectively. | Does not create a flow from one question to the next. Asks primarily closed questions. Jumps from topic to topic without regard for themes. | Asks several closed questions but includes some open-ended questions. The student begins to address the client’s feelings. Has at least some ability to direct the conversation. | Utilizes primarily open-ended questions. Acknowledges client’s feelings and encourages the client to share thoughts. | Utilizes well-planned, open-ended questions that allow the client to expand on thoughts and feelings. Reflects on the main ideas the client shares and gently directs the interview toward those themes. |
| Use interpersonal skills to engage the client effectively. | Communicates discomfort or disinterest through verbal and nonverbal behavior. | Demonstrates some basic verbal and nonverbal communication skills but is not yet able to communicate warmth and genuineness to the client. | Elements of the interview clearly communicate warmth and genuineness, although there may be lapses. A few attending and communications techniques are included. The conversation flows fairly well. | Communicates basic helping skills to the client from the greeting and throughout verbally and nonverbally. Demonstrates a combination of attending skills. Has the ability to keep momentum in the conversation and uses silence appropriately. |
Mid-Course Feedback: Reflecting on your Reflections
10 of 18 completed the evaluation.
Things Working
- Engaging and supportive teaching style (lots of positive feedback)
- Interactive and experiential learning (role plays, in-class activities, group discussions, practice opportunities)
- Clear, organized materials (shared resources, slides, prepared for class, flexibility)
- Student’s reflection and growth (recognizing biases, putting self out there, personal development, and looking where to improve) ==most exciting piece for me==
- “I could definitely put forth more effort in speaking. I feel like Bambi on ice when engaging in class or role-playing in front of others. I just need to take a deep breath, relax, and have the mindset to work hard and persevere.”
- “I have learned a lot this semester but this course helped me feel less anxious about the future of clinical practice in social work. I was always worried I’d mess up or not make the right decisions but after getting the assurance from Dr. Campbell that experience will help me develop confidence and improve, I feel less anxiety about my future career.”
- “That my continued education is a process that may not garner immediate results. I guess that I have developed this sense of expecting or looking for instant gratification and that needs to be addressed. I am also discovering or learning that I AM worthy, reminds me of Wayne’s World for some reason. Anyways, in an overall sense I just need to continue to work hard, be resilient, and accept that I am learning and that again, this is a process. I am tired of looking for easy ways to solve my problems and want to develop a better work ethic.”
- “Something I have learned about myself is my classmates have told me I am comforting and would do good in a client session. I have also learned that I am determined to figure out things even when I don’t understand them.”
- “I still have areas of biases that I might need to unpack in therapy”
Things Not Working
- Challenge of readings and quizzes (Read quiz, read chapter, when complete the quiz go back to content)
- Group projects (more next semester, effective strategies)
- Rabbit trails or feeling professor interrupted (Can be something I will work on… most interactive class in years)
Suggestions
- Allowing time in class to do homework (not really pertinent to this class)
- Changes to video recording (open discussion, what can this look like)
- Changes to how engage in question follow up and staying on topic (trying to summarize more responses and stick with an individual response, maintaining focus yes/no)
- “In terms of number 2, as a teacher you could engage with students answering questions more/connect with students more. (Sometimes tend to ask questions and not reply to what student has said, but just move on to the next raised hand. This makes me as a student not want to answer questions). I have also noticed you stray away from the main topic sometimes and talk too much/long about something not as important, making the material hard to sit through. Also, as a student I feel uncomfortable presenting in front of class and being recorded on the recorded lectures. Improvement in these areas will help elevate my learning experience.”
The Office: Birthday Party Planning
Watch clip from the office that includes some simple planning
Today we are talking about planning.
Linkages in the Planned Change Process
There should be a link and connection directly following each step in the planned change process.
- Assessment
- Targeted Concerns
- Goals
(Hepworth et al., 2017)
Purpose and Function of Goals
Goals often take a circuitous path, where we help the client reach goal attainment. A part of this process is…
Emphasizing client values in the goal-formation process maximizes the motivating force of goals and ensures that you and your clients are working in harmony toward the same outcome (Hepworth et al., 2023, p. 240)
- Priority Concerns (starting point)
- Task or Objective (incremental action steps)
- Attainment (goal completion)
Factors Influencing Goal Development
Several factors influence goal development.
[Whole Class Activity] Discuss what examples are of each of these.
- Client Participation: Most important. Working harder than your client… influence commitment, self-definition, and self-efficacy
- Involuntary Status: Difficult to engage
- Values and Beliefs: client vs. practitioner goals and views
- Resources and Supports: Personal resources (think cognitive deficit and functioning), involvement of others
- Environmental Conditions: Complex and multi systemic
(Hepworth et al., 2017)
Individual Goal Focus
There are a few general areas we might focus our goals for individuals on. We can think about this in terms of functioning
- Cognitive functioning (e.g., increase positive self-talk)
- Emotional functioning (e.g., manage anger)
- Behavioral change (e.g., listen to others without interrupting).
(Hepworth et al., 2017)
Types of Goals: Descriptors
Along with considering goals in these broad domains being changed, we can also apply a descriptor to the goal.
The first two descriptors are related to time
- Long-term: frame people’s ambitions within their identities and values
- Short-term: reflects a partialized version of a long-term (e.g., they need to fit within their long-term goals)
Share about the WISe family vision, team mission, meeting needs, and goal.
There are many other formats or types of goals that our clients might have:
- Approach Goals: identify a positive end state, usually emphasizing growth and change (e.g., “I will improve my grades in photography”)
- Avoidance Goals: identify a future state to be avoided or minimized (e.g., “I won’t commit any new crimes”)
- Performance Goal: goals define an outcome (e.g., “I will pass all my classes this semester with a B or better.”)
- Learning Goal: emphasize process and the acquisition of knowledge and skills that people can use to achieve short- and long-term goals (e.g., “I will be able to write CER.”)
- Empowerment Goals: framed toward self-determination and agency. They operate at the sociopolitical level, often emphasizing dimensions of consciousness raising, education, social support, and access to resources (e.g., “I will advocate for myself by asking my teacher for help when I do not know how to do a task.”)
- Conformity: They are represented in mandates and the prerogatives of program objectives and referring authorities (e.g., “I will follow my probation contract.”)
- Risk/resilience: identify changes in risk and protective processes that are likely to alleviate presenting problems (e.g., “I will put my phone in do not disturb by 10 pm”)
[Small Group Activity] Discuss with a partner each of these types of goals and what some potential goals that you might have in your life are in each area.
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Guidelines for Selecting and Defining Goals
In thinking about goals, there are some guidelines we should follow
- Goal statements should be framed positively
- Structure specific goals to enhance motivation
- Short-term goals need to be matched to clients’ values, culture, preferences, and their long-term goals
- There is a need to balance goal types
- short-term goals with long-term goals
- performance goals with learning goals
- avoidance goals with approach goals
- compliance-conformity goals with empowerment and risk/resilience goals
- Goals should maximize client choice within the constraints of program objectives and referral mandates
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
SMART GOALS
SMART goals are as a strategy are found throughout discussion in clinical practice. My first exposure was when I worked at Jubilee, I used to teach the kids on my caseload that goals have to be SMART.
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Time-bound
Initial use by Doran (1981)…
Reference
Doran, G. T. (1981). There’s a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management’s goals and objectives. Management Review. 70(11) 35–36.
Strategies for Developing Goals with Involuntary Clients
There are some activities we can do as clinicians to assist in developing goals with involuntary clients.
- Motivational Congruence: “work on target goals that are personally meaningful to the client and that also satisfy the requirements of the mandate” (Roony 2009 as cited in Hepworth, 2017, p. 322)
- Agreeable Mandate: Work on bridging differing views through cognitive reframing and finding common ground.
- Let’s Make a Deal: Work on negotiating through helping meet their needs.
- Getting Rid of the Mandate: Focus on getting rid of services.
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (1 of 12) Overview and Demonstration
There are six stages that the textbook describes that we must go through in planning.
-> Before we can determine a goal, we must also assess the for the need and strengths/resources
- Determine clients’ readiness
- Explain the purpose and function of goals
- Formulate client-driven goals
- Increase goal specificity
- Determine barriers and benefits
- Rank goals according to priorities
[Whole Class Activity] Goal Formulation Demonstration Demonstrate going through each stage with a student in front of the class.
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (2 of 12) Creating A Goal Plan
As we will be going though this process, you are going to creating an entire goal plan. On a piece of paper, you are going to collect all of this information from your partner. To start off with, I would focus on what is the problem is that is going to be address and potentially starting to gather some strengths and resources (although you can be add to that throughout the process)
Next week I will have us go through some other scenarios and have a form for you to complete. This week, you can just write some notes on a piece of paper.
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Area of Focus
- What is the problem you are going to addressing through planning today
- Determine some strengths and resources
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (3 of 12) Determine Clients’ Readiness
The first step we go through in goal formulation is determining a clients’ readiness for working on the goal.
- It is important to assess readiness early in the process
- Consider using summaries or scaling
- Recognize that their might be reluctance
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Readiness Have students determine the readiness to address their goal in their pair.
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (4 of 12) Purpose and Function of Goals
We should spend time explaining the purpose and function of goals
- Spend time educating clients about goals
- Help recognize the match between their goals, program goals, and referral mandates
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Goal Psychoeducaiton Have students discuss the purpose and function of goals with their partner.
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (5 of 12) Formulating Client Driven Goals
Then we work to help them formulate goals that are meaningful to them.
Potential Methods to Obtain
- Solicit quotes or client description
- Offer tentative suggestions
It becomes our job to help shape and give focus to their goals
Examples of how we might help shape goals:
- When clients give avoidance goals, you can reach for positive opposites that they can work towards
- For client who express low confidence or efficacy beliefs about achieving a new or challenging goal, consider suggesting a learning goal
- For clients who express a low goal commitment, consider a focus on their long-term goals before focusing explicitly on their short-term goals
–> Next slide, small group process after
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (6 of 12) Increase Goal Specificity
Next we move on to making the goal more specific.
Help clients to call out all of the parts of a good goal… e.g., make it SMART
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Goal Formulation Work with pair in determining both a broad understanding of the goal and then helping to make it more specific.
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (7 of 12) Writing a Goal
You will often have to write out goals on a contract. For this experience, write your goal statement on a piece of paper.
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Writing a Goal Develop a specific goal statement.
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (8 of 12) Review Goal Statement
Now that you all have a goal statement, I want you to review it. We can ask ourselves some of the following questions related to goal.
- Is it linked to the defined target concern?
- Is it defined in explicit and measurable terms?
- Is it feasible?
- Is it stated in positive terms that emphasize growth?
-> Not hepworth et al 2023… maybe 2017?
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Goal review Review the goal statement created based on above questions.
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (9 of 12) Barriers and Benefits
The next step includes determining barriers and benefits of the goal.
- Use scaling questions about goal commitment
- Anticipate future barriers
- Discuss intrinsic benefits
- Provide incentives and rewards when possible
- Explicitly link short and long-term goals
(Hepworth et al., 2023)
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (10 of 12) Defining Barriers
Now write out what some of those barriers might be.
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice - Barriers Start framing the goal that you have developed with your pair to be a specific goal statement
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (11 of 12) Ranking Goals
The final stage is to rank goals according to priorities
Your job is to help the clients sort out their priorities to help keep them from being overwhelmed and frustrated.
Process of Goal Formulation Practice (12 of 12) Action Steps
A part of goal development often includes action steps. There might be some general tasks that need to happen, or these might be tied to the client or the clinician.
[Small Group Activity] Goal Formulation Practice Develop some action steps for the goal