Analysis of a Social Work Student/Client Interaction
The purpose of this assignment is to identify, analyze and generalize about the actions of a social work practitioner in a specific helping situation. Present a critical incident: an excerpt from your practice in which you tried to provide help to an individual, group, family or community.
1. Present a summary of the case situation which includes your assessment, treatment plan and other relevant issues.
2. Use 7-8 consecutive transactions. Start with a verbal or non-verbal client response. Underline the things you said or did and number your actions. Where silence is the response, call attention to this as an action. Select four client/worker transactions and answer the following questions for each. Try to select sequential interventions.
3. What is your present “reading” or understanding of what the client is primarily saying or doing? (Try to say from the client’s shoes what he/she might be feeling or thinking; what you heard with your third ear).
4. What was your response, or silence, designed to achieve, i.e., what was the purpose of your intervention?
5. Evaluate the extent to which your response was connected to the client’s primary message (perceptions or concerns)?
6. If your response was only partially connected or disconnected, what were you experiencing at the moment that might have affected your response? 7. Based upon what you know now, how would you respond differently? (Be specific).
8. Briefly discuss something you learned about your practice through this assignment.
9. Where applicable cite course literature to highlight your discussion.
