Intake Team Reflection

Working in the Intake team is really challenging me because it is the first contact with client and it is important to engage client in the first time. At here, I have not only learned how importance to engage a client into the process; but also, it is a good practice that I can apply theories and be sensitive on the way of engaging clients. As Egan and Maidment (2009) emphasizes engagement is the first step where a practitioner starts to build up a trust relationship and partnership with a client in the helping process. This is also the first notion that a social worker and a client starts to create a connection and climate in which the client can participate (Egan & Maidment, 2009; Thompson, 2000). Reflecting on my first interview with Mrs Lee, the first time she came to our office, she was nervous, shaking. More than that, due to different languages, Mrs Lee was even more confused and did not know how to tell us her story. On that day, I was on welcomed desk duty, I saw Mrs Lee wandering outside our office. I gave her welcoming smile and hoped that it would help her to gain more confident. Later, she

Active listening is crucial (Egan & Maidment, 2009). Either verbal or nonverbal skills are needed and important in order to create a good relationship or establish a rapport between worker and service users (Thompson, 2000). In my placement, we prefer to do phone intake so we could not see any body languages such as eyes contact or hand postures etc. It is tricky over the phone because the client could not see the worker and did not know how sincere the worker might respond to the story and their needs (Allen & Langford, 2008). Therefore, in order to my empathy or active listening, I have to do in a different way. I remember during my interview with clients, sometimes I had to make some sounds like “Uhm” or “Yup” to present my active listening towards