Since September, my fellow classmates in Basic Intervention Skills and I have been learning about hands-on skills that can be used, arguably, in almost any job in the social work field. We have been implementing and practicing these skills through a series of mock scenarios in which we act as practitioner. Our final project, a 35 minute video of ourselves acting as the social worker within a practice session, was a challenge for me, for multiple reasons. First and foremost, it was the longest session I have ever had to complete for this class, by far. Additionally, I did not have the support and assistance of my classmates if I got stuck. And finally, knowing we were going to be marked on our performance added additional pressures. However, …show more content…
These may have been as minute as simply asking “what do you mean by that” or “can you tell me more” in attempts to get a clearer picture, as well as to allow the participant to tell me what she feels is most important. Bogo (2006) stresses the importance of this: “The practitioner will need to listen carefully and inquire at length to better understand the client’s experience and the meanings they attribute to the presenting problem” (p. 157). This is vital, because as human beings with our own biases, we may think that one aspect of our client’s story is the most pressing, but if we listen to how they speak, it may become clear that they find something else to be the much more pressing …show more content…
Asking for the client’s permission to talk about a certain topic may help to “start where the client is” (Bogo, 2006, p. 154), as they will let you know if they are ready to discuss something or not. This tool was one that had been talked about numerous times during class, however the time it stuck the most to me was when it was given as feedback during one of my simulated interviews. While it may seem very mundane and routine, it carries a strong purpose and was simple to use in my