A skill that use to build rapport with my clients is active listening. Active listening goes beyond mere hearing; it is a holistic approach to comprehending and responding to clients. This approach includes paraphrasing, where the listener rephrases the client's words to ensure mutual understanding and enhance clarity in communication. A skill that I use to maintain engagement is asking open-ended questions. Open-ended questions encourage meaningful dialogue and enable clients to delve deeper into their concerns or aspirations. They stimulate active engagement and encourage reflective thinking, which plays a pivotal role in nurturing understanding and motivation.

A theory that helps me engage more effectively with clients is Person -Centered Theory. In client engagement through Person-Centered Theory, the focus is on fostering a nurturing environment where clients feel genuinely appreciated and respected for their individual perspectives and experiences. This involves practicing unconditional positive regard, where clients are accepted without any form of judgement. This approach creates a safe space that encourages clients to openly dig into into their thoughts and emotions, knowing they will not face criticism.

A theory that helps my approach when engaging with clients is Self-Determination Theory. This approach helps with intrinsic motivation and empowering relationships with clients.

One skill to build rapport that I use is active listening. One skill I use to maintain engagement is storytelling.

For me, these past two weeks have been very extensive, especially this past week 3. Since the beginning of this quarter, I have had the opportunity to start managing cases assigned to me, and I have had the opportunity to use many of the engagement and assessment skills. Particularly this past week, I did my internship for a whole week (I put 40 hrs.) because although I could engage more directly with my clients, it was very extensive and chaotic. I specifically had the opportunity to assess an At-risk client using the Columbia protocol. I must admit that I initially did not feel comfortable using the questions in the Columbia protocol assessment. Still, as I progressed in the safety assessment, which also involved conducting a crisis intervention, I did not doubt that I had to ask questions about suicidal thoughts and behaviors to make sure my client or others were not in danger. Something I noticed is that when I asked my client about any intent to hurt herself or others, she took a couple of minutes and went silent. When I asked my client if she was okay, she said she would never do it and never thought about it. Yet, I believe it was at that point my client realized she needed professional help because she expressed that she needed help to recover her life and stop being the "puppet" of her still husband. The client did not hesitate to ask me for help and I provided her with different resources, including a referral to counseling services and the 988 number with specific instructions, which I also provided in writing. My supervisor supervised my intervention from beginning to end, and she gave me positive feedback.

One skill I have been using and consider key when building rapport and maintaining engagement is active listening. I think active listening and observing verbal and nonverbal clues must become part of the change process when social workers work with their clients, mainly because they need to listen to understand where clients are coming from and better assess and plan according to their needs.

Reference:

Walby, S., & Towers, J. (2018). Untangling the concept of coercive control: Theorizing domestic violent crime. Criminology & Criminal Justice, 18(1), 7-28. https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817743541

I would like to work on developing and maintaining the habit of articulating the case from a theoretical perspective, maintaining structure, focus, and direction of the interview, and demonstrating an understanding of professional and ethical behaviors, responsibilities, relationships, and/or demeanor. Basically, I hope to keep developing and strengthening the necessary skills to grow personally and professionally, explore different social work roles, and demonstrate an understanding of professional and ethical behaviors, responsibilities, relationships, and/or demeanor.

My first two weeks of field placement have been going great. I now have the opportunity to complete intakes on my own, with my field supervisor near by if needed:)

While I am competent in understanding and assessing policies, I aim to enhance my ability to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that promote social justice. This quarter, I plan to participate more actively in policy discussions and develop stronger advocacy skills.

To maintain engagement, I use strengths-based approaches. This technique focuses on identifying and leveraging clients' strengths and resources to overcome challenges.

My first two weeks at my internship have involved experiencing the ins and outs of the agency, attending trainings, and getting into the groove of everything.

A theory that helps me engage more effectively with clients is Person-Centered Theory. In client engagement through this theory, the focus is on fostering a nurturing environment where clients feel genuinely appreciated and respected for their individual perspectives and experiences. This involves practicing unconditional positive regard, where clients are accepted without any form of judgment. This approach creates a safe space that encourages clients to openly explore their thoughts and emotions without fear of criticism.

I would like to work on advocating for myself more, ensuring that I am not overworking myself or letting the internship exhaust me, and making sure I remain a priority.

My first 2 weeks back have been great. I have been utilizing time management skills. I am also able to use active listening skills when working with my supervisor and clients. I can assess and implement interventions appropriate to the situation. I would like to work on being quicker when working with clients and I know that will come easier as time goes on and I get more comfortable working with them.

Strengths:

I am pretty good at building relationships with my clients. I utilize active listening to fully engage with them to build a strong rapport. Empathy, authenticity, warmth, respect and positive regard are all present in my client interactions.

I also can redirect a client to a more productive thought process during conversation via reframe and empowerment. I value and require of myself paraphrasing and repeating back to my clients what they've shared to ensure I understand their concerns.

Improvements:

I often have a hard time vocalizing strengths with my own words. Further, I overlook strengths that I feel are minor or are not particularly "special". Therefore, I don't create space for these to thrive. I have a difficult time to identifying accurate affects in clients and what implications this has for a clients mood or presentation. Time management as well.

The first two weeks at my places included a few changes. There was a major change in management and additional team members hired. This added more members during outreach and increased collaboration with other county departments. However, this was discussed in the previous quarter so I was not surprised. I also have the added task of group supervision with other interns which I have been enjoying so far.

Client history review is a major first step for me in building rapport. This can occur either prior to meeting the client or during the first encounter. Allowing time for me to learn about reasons they need services, values and goals, cultural values, and any boundaries the client has.

Maintaining engagement involves a few factors. First and ultimately rooted in relationship building (authenticity, non-judgmental). Additionally with knowledge of my role and my scope of practice to demonstrate competency, keeping the conversation structured, identifying theories to engage appropriate interventions, and requesting feedback from supervisor.

My choice of theory to approach client engagement is systems theory. Mezzo and Macro influences are important to highlight in the examination of a client's behavior and history. The conditions and environment a client grew up in contribute to how they think, their values and morals, their outlook on the world, perception of right and wrong, etc. Identifying these would help with correct theoretical approach to maintain engagement.