A Social Worker and a Lady on Domestic Violence Roleplay: Empathy Reflective Essay

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This essay delivers the assessment on a social worker and a lady on domestic violence role play. It is a 10 minutes audio recording interview. It is not a real interview, so all names used in this interview is pretend and there are no issues of confidentiality. The definition for a social worker in the Cambridge dictionary is ‘’A person who is trained to help people who are at a mental, physical, economic or social disadvantage’’ A social worker is an occupation that encourages social change, solving problem in human relationship and the authorisation for setting people free and to intensify well-being (Cambridge 2019). This essay is going to give a reflective report on the interview I acted as a social worker. I based my professional skills on Egan ‘’ Skilled Helper’’ Model in guidance and counseling practice (Egan 2013). I used this skill when my client told me her story and as a social worker with my critical thinking, saw that there is the need to refer my client to a counselor.

The role-play interview was carried out with madam Joan, a mother of four who has been married to her husband for ten years. For the past four years, she was being abused by the husband physically and sexually. She was jobless had no friend or a family member living by, and for the concern of her children, because the abuse was an ongoing issue she decided to reach out to my office for help. The purpose of the interview was to assess her case to see the kind of help I could offer her as a social worker. When I started the interview with my client, I maintained my professional boundaries because of mutual interaction. Also, I was very careful to avoid self- disclosure not to be carried away by my client story. To also tell her about my personal life. I showed the maturity to prove that I was very competent with my work as a social worker (Zur,2008).

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After introducing my self clearly to my client, according to Egan model in practice. It is an error to presume that my client will naturally know who I am (Egan,2013). I allowed my client to sign a confidentiality form informing her about confidentially. And that it will not reach the third party unless there is a concern that, she and her children were at risk (Geoghegan,2014). I placed the interview agenda into madam Joan’s control with a proper use of an open-ended question ‘’what brought you here today?’’. In order for my client to feel free and express her self even though she has told me a bit of her story on phone, there was the need to assess her better by allowing her to speak to me in details what has been happening around her (Egan,2013). I developed the skills of effective communication and active listening based on Egan theory on ‘skilled Helper’’ according to Egan ‘’ Effective listening is key to a Skilled Helper’’. As a social worker, for my client to gain more confident and relaxed and to know that she is in a safe hand, I listened carefully to my client when she was narrating her story to me. To be able to get more information and facts to decide on what support my office could offer her. Even though she did most of the talking, I did not only listen to her, but I also communicated back to her using body language. I maintained appropriate eye contact so that she gains more confident in communicating back to me (Egan,2013).

[bookmark: _Hlk14176851]It has been suggested by Carkhuff (2000) the theory of ‘High- Level functioning Helper’ which also talks about Empathy. The issue of my client was more delicate, so I developed my skill of Empathy by shearing her emotional state. I was careful to be very professional on that even though she shared some tears, I offered her a paper towel. I encouraged her to continue telling her story with the use of encouraging behavior like verbal cues ‘’oh I see’’, ‘tell me more’. According to Roger (1980), the therapist’s ability to carry empathy allows the client to express their feelings more and give clear meanings to what they are saying. This skill of empathy also allowed my client to carry on with the discussion when I said to her ‘this must have been a very difficult moment for you and the children’.

As a social worker, I developed the skill of critical analytical thinking. According to Cottrell (2013, p.187) thinking critically means to measure the weight of the argument, standing aside from the information given, and study into dept from many angles the information given, being able to explain into details the information given. Because I am not supposed to decide for my client but based my support on the information given by my client, I must think critically. There was also an issue of domestic violence which children were involved and there was a risk of harm and their safety was very important, I had to think critically for the best support for my client. Before deciding on anything I had to paraphrase and summarise and read to the hearing of my client what she has said to me and she agreed it was ok then I wrapped up my interview.

On reflection, I should have been able to speak to my client clearly and politely. At the beginning of the interview, I was tense because it was my first time interviewing a client and I was less confident. I should have dwell more on Kolb’s learning cycle ‘’concrete experience’’ (Kolb,1984) reading more to gather information from experts. I should have studied more on Koprowska skills on interpersonal communication which suggest that it is a great sign to set a good rapport with a service user which will set a base for mutual respect and trust (Koprowska,2014). With the skill of empathy, I gained the confidence of my client and she was able to speak out.

To conclude, I guess all aims and objectives were met with the proper use of theories. Theory from Egan (2013), the Skilled Helper, theory from Carkhuff (2000), ‘High-Level Functioning Helper, Roger (1975) theory on empathy and Koprowska (2014) skills on interpersonal relationship. However greater use of all these skills might have improved the interview very well. However, I will try hard to achieve and develop more skills trough out my learning

  1. Carkhuff, R. R (2000) The Act of Helping in the 21st Century Amherst, MA: Human Resource Development Press.
  2. Cottrell, S. (2013) ‘’The Study Skills Handbook’’, 4thedn, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
  3. Egan, G. (2013)’ The Skilled Helper’’ 10thedn Cengage Learning.
  4. Geoghegan, L. (2014) The code of Ethics for Social Work; The Policy, Ethics, and Human Right Committee.
  5. Cambridge, (2019) Definition for Social worker available at : https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/social-worker (accessed on 15/07/2019)
  6. Kolb, D. A., (1984). ‘Experiential Learning experience as a source of learning and development’’. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
  7. Koprowska, J. (2014) Communication and Interpersonal Skills in Social Work, 4thedn., Exeter: Learning Matters (also available as an e-book).
  8. Roger, C. (1980a) Empathetic: An unappreciated way of being. In a way of being(pp.137-163). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
  9. Zur, O. (2008) The Google factor: Therapist ‘self-disclosure in the age of the internet- Discover what your client can find out about you with a click of the mouse. Independent Practitioner, Vol. 28(2),83-85

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