Counselling Skills for Social Workers

Hilda Loughran

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781351381451
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Psychiatry & Mental Health

Counselling skills are very powerful. Really listening and providing compassionate empathy without judging is a core part of social work practice with service users.

This book provides a theoretically informed understanding of the core skills required to provide counselling interventions that work. It provides detailed discussion of three core skills which are identified as: talking and responding, listening and observing and thinking. Over 11 chapters these core skills are described in terms of what they mean, how they can be learned and developed, how they can be used and misused and, most importantly, how specific skills can be employed in a coherent and evidence-informed counselling approach. Loughran also looks in detail at the skills required to deliver interventions consistent with three approaches: Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Work and Group work.

Illustrative case examples and exercises offer further opportunities for reflection and exploration of self-awareness as well as for practising and enhancing skills development, thus making the book required reading for all social work students, professionals looking to develop their counselling skills and those working in the helping professions more generally.

Terms such as social worker, therapist and counsellor will be included as they inform counselling skills in social work.

Part I

Counselling skills for social work

1Social work

Conversations, counselling and therapeutic interventions

•Present a discussion of issues in adopting a professional approach to counselling including boundaries around befriending, helping and caring for those with whom we work.

•Consider the place of theory, methods and research in the development and application of counselling skills.

•Exploration of what these three terms mean.

•Consideration of these as a continuum of communication-based contexts which share some similarities but which demand different levels of communication skills, theoretical understanding and ethical base.

Introduction

Social work has its roots in holistic vision of helping people across three domains; one-to-one casework, group work and community work. It’s probably fair to say that these three aspects of social work have not retained equal parity in terms of the identity and activities of social workers. There is, it seems, a tension between the social work mission to engage in advocacy and promoting social justice on the one hand and an increasing emphasis on responsibilities of social workers in terms of assessing and responding to cases of child protection. Perhaps part of the difficulty is the long-standing problem of finding an evidence base to prove the value of preventative and early intervention measures. The challenge of finding evidence to support activities such as group work will be discussed in a later chapter. Over time, interventions focusing on one-to-one type interventions seem to have established a stronger base in evidence. Counselling, psychotherapy and psychology have contributed to a strong evidence base that working with people and building on the therapeutic relationship is helpful (Bland et al. 2006, Cooper 2011, Miller & Rollnick 2013). Ironically, the place of social work and what was originally historically called casework has not been strongly associated with this growing body of evidence, but has resulted in a debate in social work as to the place of evidence-informed practice and the identification of an urgent need for social work to develop its own evidence base. This text will look at the correlation between the activities of social work and the established evidence of the importance of the counselling/therapeutic relationship with service users. Reflecting this emphasis on one-to-one interventions, each chapter will focus on the connections between what have been identified as counselling skills and the skills employed in social work.

The fundamental social commitment of social work is clearly defined in the global definition of social work approved by the IFSW General Meeting and the IASSW General Assembly in July 2014:

Social work is a practice-based profession and an academic discipline that promotes social change and development, social cohesion, and the empowerment and liberation of people. Principles of social justice, human rights, collective responsibility and respect for diversities are central to social work. Underpinned by theories of social work, social sciences, humanities and indigenous knowledge, social work engages people and structures to address life challenges and enhance wellbeing.

(http://ifsw.org/get-involved/global-definition-of-social-work/employed by social workers)

Mission and practice

Unfortunately, social work appears to be struggling with the continued tension between its value base and ethical position promoting social justice, advocacy and equality and the social control connotations that are now so strongly associated with social work in child protection. Keen et al. (2009, p. 144) emphasise ‘the recognition and management of risk is a fundamental part of being a social worker whatever specialism you choose. For child protection social workers it has to be at the forefront of your decision-making processes. The recognition of risk is often drawn out to the assessment process and the enquiring nature of the social worker. Making decisions regarding child protection issues is not the responsibility of anyone social worker, newly qualified or not. Child protection is a joint responsibility both within your organisation and on a multi-professional basis.’ It has been all too easy to both associate sole responsibility for decision-making and child protection issues with social workers and also to mistakenly assume that child protection is the only activity engaged in by social workers. In essence, Keen et al. (2009, p. 144) remind us that the process of assessment has been developed to respond to needs early and thereby to work proactively to prevent crisis happenings. In a climate of limited resources, the ecological and more holistic aspirations of the Common Assessment Framework (Children’s Workforce Development Council 2009) may be undermined by a lack of recognition of the counselling skills required to conduct such assessments effectively.

This identification of social work with the task of assessment in relationship to child protection may in part be responsible for undermining the counselling aspect of social work intervention and practice. And yet conducting assessments in this context requires a very skilled and high level of competence in terms of interpersonal communications, which this text will argue are fundamentally counselling skills.

While developing criteria to regulate the use of the term counsellor/therapist are to be welcomed, it is unfortunate that these steps appear to be at the expense of recognising the employment of counselling skills as part of competent professional practice in other disciplines. In this text the essential interpersonal communication which social workers employ to conduct competent social work practice will be referred to as counselling skills. In addition, it will be argued that the purpose of social work practice is to be helpful, healing and rehabilitative. All these factors are compatible with the goals and purposes of therapeutic interventions. However, these findings do support the view that once the relationship is prioritised then social work interventions are indeed therapeutic interventions.

It is worth asking if the distinction between professional conversations, interviewing assessment, counselling and therapy are helpful in relation to social work practice or do they in fact simply reflect context rather than content, process or purpose. Communication will be considered along a continuum recognising that communication is an important component of social life in general … particularly important in such professions as social work and social care (Thompson 2011, p. 1). There is a risk that because we might take communication for granted that we may not take time to consider what it actually involves (Thompson 2011, p. 11). Therefore, while it is important that social workers have ‘good listening skills’ and are interested in ‘helping people’ these and many more elements of communication must be developed from a social conversational level to a more advanced level of professional competence. This advanced level will be referred to as counselling skills, but will include the concept of therapeutic intervention skills.

Thompson (2011, p. 9) points out that because ‘they often have to deal with conflict and sensitive issues while building a positive relationship, social workers require high levels of communication skills … this involves building up a more sophisticated understanding of the intricacies of how people interact. [He clarifies that] we must take account of the social context and the importance of meaning in communication’ (2011, p. 16). Having shared meaning or shared assumptions would no doubt make communication easier. It is, however, very difficult to assess if such shared assumptions exist in communication between social workers and service users. Perceptions of each party on issues such as the purpose of the interaction, roles, responsibilities, authority and power may differ significantly, adding to the complexity of building a collaborative relationship.

Communication: a culturally informed activity

Communication also has a cultural dimension. This can be seen, for example, in the use of language to communicate. Not only may there be a difference in the language requiring a translator, but indeed even when speaking the ‘same’ language meaning may be attributed differently to both verbal and non-verbal communication. Good examples of this might be the traditional importance given to greeting by shaking hands and making direct eye contact. Different cultures interpret these activates very differently; instead of being a sign of engagement, they may be considered as disrespectful or challenging. Being culturally aware is an essential component in positive communication. Other factors relating to social context include the issue of power differentials between those communicating. Thompson (2011, pp. 31–34) reminds us that social status, self-esteem and discrimination can also impact on communication.

Taking these factors into account, it is evident that social workers need to have a very high level of communication skill. They are often attempting to build relationships and engage service users in situations that are emotionally charged and open to misunderstandings, involving the attribution of different meanings and assumptions and also where there may be perceived and real discrepancies in power, status and autonomy. Add to this the fact that sometimes there is an immediacy about decision-making and that a social worker may be under time constraints due to resource limitations, the need for sophisticated counselling skills and ongoing support and supervision to provide reflective space for social workers is clearly a prerequisite for practice.

Collaboration with service users though relationship building

Social workers employ counselling skills for therapeutic purposes and all activities should have a therapeutic purpose. The importance of the relationship built between social worker and service user is central to successfully working together to achieve positive (therapeutic) outcomes (Bland et al. 2006). Lambert and Barley (2002) reported that this therapeutic relationship consistently correlates more highly with client outcome than specialised therapy techniques and that the connections between the therapeutic relationship and client outcome are strongest when measured by client ratings. Norcross (2010) and Wampold (2010) support this view. It is useful therefore to consider what it is that service users say about social workers. This research (Lambert & Byerley 2002, p. 26) explains that what clients identify as helpful is ‘more understanding and accepting, empathic, warm and supportive and engaging in fewer negative behaviours such as blaming, ignoring and rejecting’. These findings help to clarify the challenge for social workers. They are attempting to build a relationship with service users, often nonvoluntary service users to convey the characteristics of support, warmth, understanding and empathy while essentially working towards a change that the service user may strongly oppose. Instead of undermining and marginalising the counselling skills required in social work, it is critical to become more conscious and fluent in the use of these skills.

We should consider the implications of the evidence which supports the importance of building a therapeutic relationship and of spending time working towards collaboration with service users and then look at the increasing pressure of caseloads and waiting lists to deal with urgent cases with the potential difficulty of trying to do too much in too short a time. The essence of social work has always been the importance of this collaborative partnership with service users, yet we must question whether social work has developed to a point where policies and structures are actually actively undermining the very basis of social work by requiring that social workers attempt to do their work in a context where there is little time to build the basic foundation for that work. Service users have noted the study and palliative social work the importance of continuity and building a relationship over time (Beresford et al. have noted in a study of palliative social work 2008). In contexts where neither continuity nor sufficient time are prioritised in working with service users, it is not surprising that social workers are viewed negatively by the service users. For the most part, practice which does not allow time to build a relationship, to develop understanding to express empathy and to demonstrate caring for service users is not consistent with the very basis of the value system of social work, nor is it in line with the evidence of what is likely to make a difference (Cooper 2011). Social work is therefore at serious risk of being undermined by pressures which do not acknowledge the important elements of the value base and skills required to do the job properly. This is further complicated by experienced social workers taking for granted the very skills that are core to their work and therefore not being in a strong position to advocate for the importance of having time to develop and engage those skills. In the light of this, it is perhaps not surprising that some service users have begun to develop a negative attitude to social work. Managing high caseloads with insufficient time is a very short-sighted approach, as ultimately building a negative cultural perspective of social work only serves to make the job more difficult and to create an environment in which service users talk about dreading interaction with social workers rather than appreciating the opportunity to work with somebody towards resolving their difficulties.

Social work counselling skills invisibility issues: just friends

One of the many challenges for social work is what will be referred to as the invisibility of their skills. It is difficult to assess social work counselling skills when research suggests that service users view that successful professional relationship with social workers is like a friendship. In their research on service users’ perspective, Beresford et al. (2008) stated that service users, who reported on positive experiences, said things like not seeing them as a social worker or thinking of social worker as a friend. This makes it easy to assume that social workers are therefore only using social conversational skills and not employing more complex counselling skills. When a social worker employs a high level of professional skill they can create a trusting environment in which the service user can talk more freely and be open to accepting support. Professional ethical standards preclude social workers from ‘befriending’ service users in that the social worker must maintain professional boundaries both for their own and for the service users’ well-being. Hence, they are not a friend in the social sense, but have employed their competence in counselling skills to put the service users at ease. It is possible, then, that good social work can be seen a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsement
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of exercises
• Acknowledgements
• Part I Counselling skills for social work
• Part II The application of counselling social work to methods
• Appendix 2.1 The social work toolkit
• Appendix 4.1 Listening, thinking to inform your response
• Appendix 4.2 Reflection on two axes
• Appendix 4.3 Reflection exercise using two-axis tool to explore your thinking about ‘Childhood Obesity’
• Appendix 4.4: Thinking filters as a framework for reflection: before, in and on action
• Appendix 5.1 Checking out open questions, closed questions and reflective responses
• Appendix 7.1 Empathetic observation
• Appendix 9.1 Case example: Jack
• Appendix 9.2 Edited version of case example: Jack
• Appendix 10.1 Stages in wheel of change (TTM)
• References
• Index