Rapport Building In Social Work

Decent Essays
Perhaps the most challenging aspect of social work is engaging clients. Rapport building is of the utmost importance. Establishing rapport nurtures good communication and empowers clients to garner much needed trust in the helping relationship (Hepworth, Rooney, Rooney, & Strom-Gottfried, 2013). Building trust through a warm and inviting atmosphere and attitude would allow me to feel at ease with my social worker. I am not the easiest person to get to, and as such, a social worker would have to have patience with me. I am a very private individual, and do not enjoy discussing aspects of my private life which may come up during a client/social worker interaction. The social worker would need to assure me that our exchanges would be held in the strictest of confidence. Implicit in this confidence is a pledge that the social …show more content…
Her college studies are in jeopardy as she is contemplating taking a leave of absence to go back home. Jane is in the early stages of the decision making process, more specifically the contemplation stage, based on the Transtheoretical Model of Change (Littell & Girvin, 2002). Jane has an expectation of fair treatment, but may come to the social work environment expecting signs of discrimination or bias. (Heck, Flenthe, & Cochran, 2012). For clients who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transsexual (LGBT) affirmation is perhaps one of the highest priorities (Heck, Flenthe, & Cochran, 2012). As such, social workers working with those in the LGBT community should be aware of and display four attitudes, as identified by Riddle (As cited by Heck, Flenthe, & Cochran, 2012). These attitudes are: recognition of the effects of heterosexism on the client, admiration for clients facing the challenges of a heterosexual society, appreciation of contributions to diversity, and providing a nurturing environment where LGBT clients can thrive (Heck, Flenthe, & Cochran,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Client Introduction Alex is a 21-year-old male attending Buffalo State College. He feels as if the only characteristic that makes him diverse is his sexual orientation, which is gay. Alex is from Kenmore, New York and is currently living with his parents. Not only is Alex a full time student in the social work program, he is also working full time at Panera Bread. Within the field of social work, he is still undecided about what he wants to do, but knows that he wants to get his MSW.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    a. Demonstrate how to establish rapport and professional relationships with adults. It is important to be able to work in an environment of mutual support and openness. Working in a school setting makes it impossible to work independently. So, building rapport and a professional relationship with other adults is a must if you aim to work effectively. You will be required to offer your support practically.…

    • 1906 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    The interplay of the social worker and client relationship is an essential piece in meeting the needs of those who are being served. Be it physical, emotional, social or otherwise and affirming the social work value of the importance of human relationships. Regardless of ones assumptions regarding the focus of social work on macro vs. micro, all should be looked at through the lens of the core values of social work. The six core values set forth to guide the practice of social work are essential to help ensure the fidelity of social work practice.…

    • 1774 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Faith Harper Case Summary

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Faith Harper was a 37-year-old African female from Kenya. In Kenya she was a practicing general surgeon that everyone admired. In hopes of a happy life, Faith married a Caucasian man named Bob and moved to the United States. The hopes of a happy and successful life deteriorated when Bob became controlling and abusive. He would beat, kick, chock, and even force her into doing different sexual activities.…

    • 807 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Cultural Competence Self-Assessment This paper will examine how to recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create or enhance privilege and power, and how to recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice. By using self-assessment tools such as the Cultural Paradigm Survey and the Project Implicit Attitudes Tests (IATs) the author identified the strengths that she wish to enhance, and the improvement opportunities for the weaknesses that she wish to reduce or eliminate. The author is a 44-year-old African American female attending Edinboro University obtaining her master’s degree after completing her bachelor’s degree late in life.…

    • 1579 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Introduction Child welfare is facing rapid transitions and changes both in Ontario and in Canada at large. The arena is currently in need of developing a healthy relationship between the worker, the client, family and the community the client belongs to (Platt, 2008). In social work with children, especially in the child welfare setting, client engagement is one of the crucial challenges. In all social work, practice based on a relationship is considered important (Howe, 2009). When interacting with the client, the manner of engagement and its dynamics focusing an alteration is vital because the outcome is the welfare of the child (Gladstone, Dumbrill, Leslie, Koster, Young, & Ismaila 2012).…

    • 1263 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dbq Personal Values

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Personal Values I have a strong bias to be an advocate for sexual/gender minorities in the LGBTQ community, especially those with intersectional identities. This is shown in my professional values and my involvement and advocacy with the transgender community. As part of the LGBTQ community and a person of color myself, I understand some of the systemic barriers that affect the transgender community, such as difficulty finding competent providers, lack of insurance coverage, and high poverty rates. Even though I am part of the overall community, I have seen how the LGBQ community often excludes transgender individuals in their issues. This further excludes them as they may not feel heard or supported by other gender and/or sexual minorities…

    • 843 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Boundary Dominations in Dual Relationships Social work is a profession of justice and compassion where the development of dual or multiple relationships are established. Dual relationships are both influenced by the social worker and the client because of the different types of roles that can occur from business partner to sexual partner. Social workers should caution on developing a dual relationship with their clients because of the boundaries that can be crossed or violated. Boundary violations occur when social workers engage in dual relationships that are exploitative, manipulative, deceptive, or coercive, while boundary crossings are harmful when the dual relationship has negative consequences for the social worker’s client or colleague…

    • 1362 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ethical Issues When Social Workers Specialize in Addictions Social workers that specialize in addictions can face many ethical issues while trying to help their client achieve sobriety. A social worker needs to focus on human relations, trust building, allowing the client to make independent decisions, and to show an acceptance and respect for the client regardless of the situation. One ethical issue is if a woman is seeking help for substance abuse and she discloses that she is pregnant.…

    • 1019 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Honesty plays an essential role in all interpersonal relationships. Being honest serves as a guide for everything that a person does. As Social Workers we must demonstrate integrity in our actions by being honest, trustworthy, and seeking to promote justice and equality. Not only should we adhere to the N.A.S.W. Code of Ethics in our professional practice but display ethically appropriate behavior in our personal lives as well. When establishing rapport with clients, working with colleagues, and or Social Service agencies they must feel as if you are a trustworthy individual.…

    • 1849 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Sexual orientation and gender expression in social work practice: Working with gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Columbia University Press, 2006. Smiler, Andrew P., and Susan A. Gelman. " Determinants of gender essentialism in college students."…

    • 1717 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    a. What effective communication styles and skills have you observed between social workers and clients? How can you learn these skills? I have observed effective communication between a social worker and a client each time I participate in a session with an experienced social worker. I have observed several communication skills on many different occasions including active listening, taking turns, using open ended questions, paraphrasing, and summarizing skills between social workers and clients to name just a few. While sitting in on sessions with my field instructor I often times find myself amazed at her ability to always say the right thing at the right time, to ask the best questions at the best time, and to lead a client to a targeted…

    • 888 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Social workers have the opportunity to work with people about the most challenging things, and they have the power to make positive changes in people’s lives. Although the social work field is known to be open to the diversity of people we work with, that is not always the case. Social workers are one of the main culprits for assuming a person has a certain identity before asking any questions. In some cases, social workers will label others because they are confused by the flexibility people have on their sex, gender, and sexuality. Instead of continuously judging others for not fitting the norm, social workers can learn from Butler and apply it to their practice.…

    • 1056 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many responsibilities that will be expected of me as a social worker. I have the responsibility to remain professional and act ethically at all times, seek supervision as needed, uphold confidentially laws, and treat each individual with dignity and respect. Also I will teach, guide, and support each individual while respecting the client’s rights to self-determination at all…

    • 705 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Social workers understand that relationships between and among people are an important vehicle for change” (NASW, 2008). There is no one seeking treatment that has completely eliminated all human contact. Examining meaningful relationships in one’s life can enlighten a social worker to better understand the person they are working with. Who influenced their client in the past? Who are the significant people in their client’s life now?…

    • 1102 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays