Hello, I'm Anna. I'm a social worker and also a YouTuber,
and I'm so, so excited for today's video series
where we will be going over the social work helping process.
This is also following the social work Generalist Intervention Model,
which you might also hear it talked about,
but really it's the steps, the basic framework
that every social worker uses in their form of intervention.
This is applicable on a micro level, on a meso level, and on a macro level,
and we'll talk about not only what each step is,
but also how to do it well,
what it includes, and how to do it ethically.
If you haven't seen me before, hi, like I said, I'm Anna
and I have a lot of videos covering lots of different topics of social work
and then also give a look into my authentic life as a social worker.
I graduated with my MSW about a year ago
and have had a postgrad journey since then
that I would love for you to subscribe and join along for.
In today's video, we will be talking specifically about
the engagement and assessment steps of the helping process.
The second video in this series will cover planning and intervention
and the final video in this series will cover evaluation and termination,
which gave a spoiler into the steps of the helping process.
But that's okay, you're gonna learn them anyways.
Without too much further introduction, let's get into the helping process.
Like I said, these steps are going to be
a basic framework that social workers follow.
Obviously, each social worker's way that they do each step of this process
and the little caveats and tools they use in between
will look different depending on what area of the field you work within
and also what your scope of practice is,
whether it's one on one, whether it's with groups, with communities,
with states, with countries, whatever you're doing.
But no matter where you work in social work,
the code of ethics is always applicable.
And so, I think it's really important to begin with the principles of social work
so we can see how those apply
as we go into the steps of the helping process.
The principles of the social work profession
are that social workers' primary goal
is to help people in need and address social problems.
Both of those two, help people in need and address social problems.
Social workers challenge social injustice,
social workers respect the inherent worth and dignity of the person.
Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships.
Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner.
And social workers practice within their area of competence
and develop and enhance their professional expertise.
That applies to every social worker.
The helping process contains six steps–
sometimes seven, we'll kind of talk a little bit about that one–
engagement, assessment, planning, intervention, evaluation, termination,
and then the seventh one is follow up.
No matter what social worker you are,
no matter which area of the field you work in,
you are always, always going to begin with engagement.
When does engagement happen?
As soon as you meet the client.
It is the very first impression
and it can also last way beyond the first session
as you continue to establish a therapeutic rapport
and build trust with the client.
Whenever I say the client, all throughout these videos,
I can mean an individual, I can mean a family,
I can mean a group, I can mean a community.
So with establishing rapport,
it can be one to one with an individual in front of you,
or it can be with a community as a whole,
establishing rapport with a neighborhood or with a school, with a city.
What is engagement?
'Building rapport' is a super common phrase in social work,
but it really just means establishing a trusting working relationship
between yourself and the client.
Do they know you? Do they trust you? Do they understand who you are?
Ultimately, rapport is built over time, but starting off
focusing in on establishing that rapport is so super crucial
because it sets the foundation of how your working relationship
will develop over time as you work with your client.
Engagement is the first impression that the client will have of you.
Are you focused on them and ready to assist them?
Or are you frazzled and distracted and acting as if
they're just another thing in your day that you have to do.
As I've already mentioned,
and as I'm sure I'll continue to mention throughout these videos,
the steps and what they include will vary based on what you're doing.
However, some aspects of engagement that are pretty much always included,
number one is an introduction,
letting the client know who you are, what you do, what your role is,
and also letting the client introduce themselves, listening to them.
What's their name? Why are they there?
Engagement will include explaining confidentiality and confidentiality limits.
This is super important because before you do anything with a client,
they need to know where the information that they disclose will go,
who it will go to, when it is protected, and when it is not
because then they can be informed as they talk with you.
Reading from the social work Code of Ethics, this is 1.01,
"But social workers primary responsibility is to promote the well being of clients.
In general, clients interests are primary.
However, social workers' responsibility to the larger society
or specific legal obligations
may, on limited occasions, supersede the loyalty owed clients
and clients should be so advised.
Examples include when a social worker
is required by law to report that a client has abused a child
or has threatened to harm themselves or others."
So sometimes in a therapeutic room,
that could look like, "Everything you say here is confidential,
meaning that I'm not going to go and tell other people about it,
but the limits to that will be
if you let me know that you are planning to hurt yourself
or if there are allegations of abuse.
Which in those cases, I'm legally obligated to make sure that everyone is safe."
It doesn't have to be that exact line, maybe that exact line isn't perfect,
but something like that so they know,
"Okay, if I tell the social worker that I am a harm to myself,
that social worker then has an obligation to do something about it."
Lets them know what's gonna happen
based on what they disclose or what they don't disclose.
So introduction, confidentiality and limits to it.
You'll also discuss the agency's services and what your role is within that.
Maybe this agency offers assistance in connecting clients
to resources to obtain housing, food, employment,
and what I'm here to do is assess if what we offer fits what your needs are.
I totally made that up, but something like that
where it explains what we offer and who you are so they know,
"Okay, this is the situation, this is what we're doing."
Engagement will also include setting boundaries.
Again, this will look different depending on where you're at.
Sometimes boundaries will be explicitly stated.
Maybe if you are in a therapy setting in a private practice
and you explicitly state,
"I am not able to be reached outside of business hours,
but if you do have a crisis in which you need help outside of business hours,
here is a resource or line you can call." Something like that.
If there are boundaries that need to be set,
sometimes they can be explicitly stated.
Or if a client misunderstands what
the services are that you're offering them like,
"Oh, perfect, I can't wait for you to pick me up each week
and we can go get groceries together and you'll pay for them,"
you need to explicitly state,
"Actually, the services that we provide are [blank]
and I'm so excited to be able to connect you with resources."
Kind of clearing up what the role is, that's setting boundaries.
Another part of engagement is talking through expectations for treatment.
Say that you are in a therapy setting
and you have a client coming in for the first time and they say,
"I just can't wait for you to fix me.
I can't wait to be happy every single day.
Probably by next week, right? I'll never feel sad again."
But talking through a realistic trajectory of what may happen in therapy,
what to expect, not promising any outcomes
because we can never guarantee any outcomes, saying,
"I would love to work with you to identify what the stressors are in your life
and what steps you can take to lessen them."
Something like that.
Engagement will also include obtaining informed consent.
This is very important because after you discuss expectations for treatment,
what your role is, what the boundaries are.
Clients get to decide if
your services are something they want to go through with.
You don't get to force your services onto a client.
Self determination is key.
Obviously, there are some settings where
informed consent will look a little bit different.
For example, if things are court mandated, court ordered,
but in those cases where you can promote self determination in a client,
you should still do so.
But as far as obtaining informed consent goes,
we can go back to our code of ethics because it talks about it explicitly,
1.03, "Social workers should use clear and understandable language
to inform clients of the purpose of services,
risks related to the services,
limits to the services,
relevant costs, reasonable alternatives,
clients right to refuse or withdraw consent,
and the time frame covered by the consent.
Social workers should provide clients with an opportunity to ask questions."
This doesn't mean just do a real quick spiel that you have memorized
so super fast the client doesn't actually understand it
and you're like, "Okay, cool? Cool." And then you're done.
That's not really what consent is.
The client needs to have the fullest understanding that they can possible
of what the process will look like
because there shouldn't be surprises that come up along the way.
For example, you get five sessions in and then you're like,
"Actually, you owe $1,500 and I didn't tell you about that till now."
Hopefully, no social worker is doing that.
But that's a drastic example of
a lack of information given upfront that the client can consent to
and say, "Okay, I understand the risks of what I'm getting into."
For example, the fact that therapy might not always be comfortable.
Okay, I understand that and I'm still willing to go through with it.
I understand the pay scale, I understand when payment is due,
I understand the expectations of me, I understand your role,
and this is something that I'm willing to do.
And notice that it says clear and understandable language.
If there is a language barrier between you and your client,
they can't give informed consent if you
haven't presented information to them in a way that they can understand.
Then it also goes on to say,
"In instances when clients are receiving services involuntarily–"
like what we mentioned, maybe it's court ordered,
maybe it's an involuntary hospitalization.
"–social workers should provide information
about the nature and the extent of services
and about the extent of client's right to refuse service."
Quick overview of what we discussed.
Engagement includes introductions,
explaining confidentiality and the limits to it,
discussing agency services and the social worker's role,
setting boundaries, talking through expectations of services,
and obtaining informed consent.
Some tips to do engagement well.
I think number one is just remember that it's a human to human interaction.
Treat your client how you would want your loved one to be treated
if they walked into your agency.
If you have an imaginary uncle who's out there
and was gonna walk through the front doors of your agency,
be kind, be welcoming, don't be judgmental.
It's a human to human interaction.
I think lots of times social workers can put pressure on themselves, are like,
"Okay, it's time to be the superhero social worker."
It's okay to laugh, to chat a little bit,
to do a little bit of small talk, really establish that rapport.
Whether you need to talk about the weather
or if there's a sports game that just happened,
being able to build a working relationship
will ultimately lead to a beneficial social worker-client relationship.
A buzz phrase in social work is to meet the client where they are at.
And that just means however the client is arriving to you,
maybe they're not super ready or not super comfortable to enter services,
meeting them there instead of assuming
that they're so gung ho about something they're not.
If they have reservations, meeting them there,
it's okay if a client doesn't immediately warm up to you.
Just because you do social work every day doesn't mean that a client
is used to participating in social work services every day.
If there is resistance there, you can acknowledge that.
Like, "I know it's hard to get up and show up here,
but I'm so glad you did
and I'm looking forward to seeing what we can do together."
Part of this too is to be aware of
any cultural differences that might be present
or any power imbalances that might be present.
Maybe a client has only ever had
negative experiences with previous social workers.
You can't get personally offended
if they come in reserved and not really wanting to talk to you.
Meeting them where they're at is understanding, like,
"Okay, they haven't had great experiences in the past.
I'm gonna do what I can to make sure that this experience doesn't match those."
But understand that they're coming in reserved,
they're coming in hesitant and that's okay.
One size does not fit all for engagement.
Every person is different, so you're going to engage every person differently.
I think that can seem pretty obvious when you're just sitting here saying it,
but it's important to remember
as you are a social worker engaging with clients.
Using your soft skills that you've learned
through the engagement process is so important.
Find empathy for your client, maintain eye contact when appropriate.
Show your client that you're focused on them, you're listening to them.
It means actively listening.
Pay attention to your posture.
Are you just sitting and typing
and looking away from them while they're talking to you?
They're not going to feel as engaged.
As if you turn to face them,
have an open posture,
maybe nod along as they're talking.
You don't have to overdo it,
but just show signs that you are actively listening to them.
Focus on and be receptive to the client's thoughts and feelings.
Social work is client centered and so that includes
you being client centered whenever a client comes in.
A lot of those soft skills you'll use anytime,
especially when you're doing micro social work,
when you're working one on one with a person.
It can begin to look a little bit different
once you move into meso and macro social work,
which if you don't know the differences between those levels,
I do have a video that talks all about micro versus meso versus macro,
but say you're doing meso social work,
all the soft skills that I just mentioned
are still so important when you're meeting with people,
but if you're trying to establish rapport with the community,
maybe attending community events, being present,
getting to know who the stakeholders are in the community, who holds power,
who has influence in the community, getting to know them,
meeting different people with various different roles in the community,
or if you're working more macro focused,
meeting people who are personally affected by
the macro social issue or macro problem that you're working with,
meeting with people who hold the power to change,
and meeting with the people who care and who identified the social problem
and brought you in to do something about it.
All in all, engagement is the foundation.
It's what the rest of your helping process,
the rest of your work with a client will be based off of
and giving it the proper time and energy that it deserves
is super, super important.
But once you do all of the steps that we mentioned in engagement,
the second step of the helping process is moving into assessment.
Assessment only happens after you have obtained informed consent.
You've let them know the limits of confidentiality.
They know your role, they know what you're doing,
they know what services you can offer,
then it's time to assess.
In short, assessment is determining what the presenting problem is.
Again, this can be micro, meso, or macro.
A problem must be known in order to be solved.
If you go in blind, close your eyes and shooting darts at the bull's eye,
don't do that. No.
Additionally, assessment determines what the client is seeking treatment for.
Your assessment isn't to see, okay,
I'm going to look at this client's life and determine what I think are problems
and determine what I think they need to work on.
No, you're figuring out why did the client show up?
What's going on? What do they want help with?
Also, why are they here now?
What changed in the presenting problem where,
today's the day where they showed up to you?
What has gone on leading up to them taking the steps to take action now?
Depending on your agency,
there may be specific tools, specific questionnaires,
specific templates that you use for your assessment.
Depending on what kind of information you need,
if you're in a school with children, you're going to need different information
than if you're working with veterans assisting them to get home loans.
Part of the way that social work as a discipline
is different from some other educational backgrounds in assessments
is that it takes account for multiple different parts of the client's life
and how they all play together to affect a presenting problem.
For example, in social work background,
a mental health struggle is not just biologically based.
It may also be exasperated by social pressures,
systemic oppression, maladaptive cognitions.
There's more that goes into it.
You need to collect information before you begin any kind of intervention,
or else, how do you know that your intervention is a fit for the client
and a fit for the presenting problem that they came in with?
Like I said, the exact information that you're looking for
will vary based on where you are,
what you're doing, who you are, what your role is.
But some elements that will be included in the assessment
that you'll be asking people about may include biological elements,
psychological elements, sociological elements.
I don't know if you noticed, but biopsychosocial.
Probably heard of those types of assessments before.
In assessment, this is a great time for you to use a strengths based perspective,
which I also have a video on if you'd like to learn more about it.
But you're not looking at what problems are in this client's life.
You're also looking at what strengths does a client come in with,
what resources are available for them to use.
Along with that, you'll identify any gaps in services
or any barriers to services that a client might be facing.
You'll be looking at how does your client system
interact with other systems around them,
whether your client system is an individual, family, a group, a community.
Also, sometimes in assessment, you will obtain collateral information.
This means information from people outside of your client system
that may be necessary to get a holistic picture of an assessment.
Now, with collateral information,
ensure that you have proper consent from your client
in order to talk about them to anyone else,
whether it's another professional,
whether it's a family member, a school teacher,
make sure that the proper releases are given
for you to talk about your client.
That will be a question that whenever you start working somewhere new,
you'll need to make sure you have clear, "Okay, who can we talk to
and what is the process to go about releasing information
or obtaining information from someone outside of the client with their consent.
When working with children,
you do not need a release to speak to their legal guardians
and their legal guardians are generally the ones
that provide consent for you to talk to anyone else.
However, once you begin actually working with a child,
it is important that you also respect their confidentiality.
This means not being a revolving door straight back to the parents that,
"Well, they're having a problem with this, this and this,
these are their exact thoughts.
They feel this way about you."
Obviously, you keep legal guardians involved and updated on progress
to the extent that it's beneficial to the child
and to the client and that it is required of you,
but children can have confidentiality even while they're children.
Collateral information can also be obtained from past documents
if a client has been with your agency before.
Maybe someone else three years ago
did an assessment similar to the one you're doing.
You can look at that and obviously information has changed since then,
but some may be the same, so you can review that information with the client,
but maybe you don't have to start from exactly square one.
Examples of presenting problems if you are in micro social work,
maybe someone is coming in struggling with substance abuse
and that's what they would like help with.
Maybe someone has a missing resource,
whether that's food, housing, employment, healthcare,
maybe someone is coming in with a mental health struggle,
maybe that's depression, maybe that's anxiety, maybe that's psychosis.
Those are examples of, on a micro level,
what an individual may be coming in with to you.
On a meso level, a presenting problem could be
an elementary school with low attendance rates
and they're wanting you to intervene to help that out.
A high school with low graduation rates,
a geriatric care facility with a high rate of depression among its residents.
Those are more meso, community based.
It's not a group, but it's not country.
Or, zooming out to macro social work,
a city with a really high rate of unhoused people,
a state with a high proportion of residents
who are just living paycheck to paycheck or experiencing financial insecurity,
a social work board with disproportionate pass rates by race.
These are examples of more macro problems
that social workers may attempt to intervene with.
Some tips to assess well.
Spending sufficient time and effort in the engagement stage
will likely lead to a more honest and complete assessment.
If someone just came in, they don't know you,
they don't trust you, they don't know what you're doing,
they don't know what your goal is.
They're probably not going to be as honest and open as if they do trust you,
do understand who you are, do understand what your goal is.
Being receptive to clients' answers to your questions,
no matter what they are, is important.
Part of this is understanding how your body language comes across.
Part of it is ensuring your responses aren't judgmental.
You are not there to judge a client.
You're there assessing needs so that you can help them break down those needs.
Part of assessing is being comfortable with silence.
Some topics discussed in assessment may be tough for a client to open up about
and tough for a client to speak about.
Holding space for that is important.
Just because this is an everyday part of your life,
discussing whichever topics you're discussing,
does not mean that it's an everyday part of your client's life
and does not mean that they are comfortable with it.
They may be very willing to talk about it,
but sometimes there's discomfort that comes up
and being comfortable with just letting them take a second
holding space for them, letting them speak on their own terms.
Going back to our handy dandy code of ethics, this is 1.07
"Social workers should respect clients' right to privacy.
Social workers should not solicit private information from or about clients
except for compelling professional reasons.
Once private information is shared, standards of confidentiality apply.
Social workers may disclose confidential information when appropriate
with valid consent from a client
or a person legally authorized to consent on behalf of a client.
Social workers should protect the confidentiality
of all information obtained in the course of professional service
except for compelling professional reasons.
General expectation that social workers will keep information confidential
does not apply when disclosure is necessary
to prevent serious, foreseeable and imminent harm to a client or others.
In all instances, social workers should disclose
the least amount of confidential information necessary
to achieve the desired purpose.
Only information that is directly relevant
to the purpose for which the disclosure is made
should be revealed."
We've discussed the first two steps of the helping process:
engagement and assessment,
and I think it's important to circle back
to those principles of the social work profession
to see how they can connect in the first two steps.
These are kind of reflection questions for you.
What does it look like to help people in need
and address social problems through engagement and assessment?
How can you do that?
How can social injustice be challenged through engagement and assessment?
How can you respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person
through engagement and assessment?
How can you centralize the importance of human relationships
through engagement and assessment?
How can you be trustworthy through engagement and assessment?
How can you ensure that you are practicing within your area of competence
through both engagement and assessment?
If you are curious what happens when you're a social worker,
after you engage a client and after you assess,
then make sure to subscribe
so that you'll be around and see whenever part two is posted,
where we will get into both planning and intervention,
and then part three, where we will get into evaluation and termination.
I hope this is helpful to you
no matter where you're at in your social work journey,
and I hope that there are many little reasons to smile in your day today.
I'll see you next time.
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