Review: Interviewing for Solutions
The two main types of interviewing that where showed in the video where voluntary and involuntary clients. A voluntary client is someone who applies for services and decides to come on their own to counseling and an involuntary client is usually someone who is court ordered to have a social worker. It is not the client’s decision to have a counselor.
In the first part of the video a voluntary client was shown. Melissa was seeking help because her house was overwhelmed by clutter and she was not able to manage it because of school and her children. It is the job of the social worker to paraphrase the client’s problem so that the client is reassured that the social worker understands what the problem actually is. It is the goal of most social workers to use the strengths perspective when working with clients and to elicit the client’s successes so far. The social worker should put some attention on what the client is doing right instead of solely focusing on the problem. When interviewing a client is also important to listen to what is important to the client and what have they done to try to make the problem better. Give them direct compliments. If someone is complimented on they are less likely to close up and stop talking; compliments give people encouragement.
After the worker has assessed what the client’s problem is and what they have done, the social worker usually asks a miracle question. A miracle question basically asks, how you would feel if your problem was solved, followed by a relationship question, simply what would your spouse or children notice. This method helps both the client and the social worker come up with a solution. When coming up with solutions one has to learn what is important to the client and notice how hard the client is working. In order to make changes, the client has to realize that they have to do something different.
In this particular clip the social worker assed the client’s problem...