Social Work Techniques

clarification

following up on something to ensure both client and practitioner understand

confrontation

calling attention to a specific topic brought up by a client, often addressing discrepancies between words or actions

summarization

brief overview key themes to focus and continue the interview process

focusing

redirecting or narrowing the conversation to specific issues relevant to client goals

validating

acknowledging and affirming client’s feelings, thoughts, and experiences

reflecting

directly rephrasing or summarizing what the client has said to show understanding and encourage more exploration

empathic communication

ability to perceive feelings of the client accurately, sensitively, and convey understanding of those feelings

mirroring

affective responses that show vicarious experience of the client’s emotions

perspective taking

using imagination and objectivity to see someone’s perceived experience

role preparation

process of developing shared expectations for the helping process, discussing rights/responsibilities, informed consent and confidentiality

surface empathy

uses the same vocab of the client to directly reflect their feelings or concerns

reciprocal empathy

adds perspective taking and expanded language to direct reflection

additive empathy

identifies patterns and connections between feelings and experiences while providing reflection

SOAP Notes

• subjective

• objective

• assessment

• planning

partialization

breaking up goals into small, manageable tasks for clients