Supportive
Skills
Skills
These skills primarily help clients feel safe, understood, & encouraged:
What are supportive skills?
These define appropriate limits in the social worker-client relationship:
What are professional boundaries?
This includes posture, facial expressions, and eye contact:
What is non-verbal communication?
These questions allow clients to tell their story in their own words:
This framework emphasizes openness & lifelong learning, rather than mastery:
What is cultural humility?
This relationship factor has strong empirical research support for improving outcomes:
What is the working alliance?
This ethical principle allows confidentiality to be broken if someone is at risk:
What is the duty to warn/protect?
In many Western cultures, this behavior signals attention & engagement:
What is eye contact?
These questions usually limit answers to "yes" or "no":
What are close-ended questions?
Cultural humility assumes every helping relationship is:
What is cross-cultural?
This involves consistently communicating belief in a client's inherent worth & dignity:
What is positive regard/respect?
Practitioners must avoid relationships that blur professional roles, known as:
What are dual relationships?
Sounds that convey empathy or interests ("uh-huh", "hmm") are:
What is non-verbal vocalization?
Effective interviews usually move from this type of question to more specific ones:
What is general to specific?
This concept explains how multiple identities shape lived experiences:
What is intersectionality?
This goes beyond empathy & involves emotionally resonating in a client's emotional pain:
What is compassion?
This inherent imbalance is always present in the social worker-client relationship.
What is a power differential?
This nonverbal behavior often needs to be adjusted when clients discuss trauma or crisis:
What is posture/body positioning?
This interviewing style gives clients more control & structure is minimal:
What is nondirective interviewing?
Unlike cultural competence, cultural humility focuses on this stance:
What is being open & teachable?
Supportive skills alone are often not enough for this level of problem severity:
What are moderate to severe psychosocial problems?
A key boundary-checking question social workers should ask themselves is:
What is: "Is what I'm doing in the client's best interest?"
Nonverbal behaviors must always be considered in this context:
What is culture?
These combined communication skills are used to gradually develop a clear, accurate, and understandable client narrative:
What is reflecting, tracking, and clarifying?
This is emphasized as ongoing & compassionate in culturally humble practice:
What is self-reflection/self-awareness?