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CHAPTER THREELISTENING SKILLS IN SOCIAL WORK PRACTICE
The Practice of Generalist Social Work (2nd ed.)
Key Ideas
Good listening and communication skills are crucial to effective social work practice.
There are specific listening approaches and skills that social workers need to master to develop trusting working relationships with clients.
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Attending
Way in which social workers convey their interest in communicating with clients, which promotes exploration of ideas and problems
Attending has verbal and nonverbal components
Requires physical and psychological preparation on the part of the social worker
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Discovery-Oriented Questions
Invite client to communicate goals for the relationship
Helps social workers to put aside biases and pre-conceived notions about clients
Helps put clients at ease to allow clients to guide the conversation
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Use of Silence
Allowing moments of silence in the course of a conversation with a client can be very useful for clients and social workers. Silence can mean the client is … Thinking Confused Experiencing uncomfortable thoughts or feelings Working on developing trust Normally quiet Achieving closure
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Following Responses
Immediate feedback that tells clients they’ve been heard and understood
Social workers can use a variety of responses to communicate to clients that their message is getting through
Verbal examples include, “If I heard you correctly…”; “Tell me more about…”; “Mm hmm”
Nonverbal examples include nodding the head or other facial expressions that show understanding
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Paraphrasing
A restatement, in the social workers’ own words, of the client’s relevant or main points— focuses on the content of a client’s message
Helps clients know they’ve been heard accurately
Helps clients to clarify their own thoughts Helps to focus on the content of a message
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Clarifying
Asks for client feedback on a particular aspect of a message to clarify a point
Like paraphrasing, but focuses in on a particular point in a message to check for meaning and accuracy in understanding
Helps to ensure against making assumptions or generalizations about a message
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Summarizing
A way of providing snapshots of topics discussed or managing a conversation to provide focus
Helps to bring closure to a session or a particular topic
Helps to confirm understanding of a message
Helps to focus in on a particular topic or aspect of a conversation
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Closed- and Open-Ended Questions Closed-ended questions encourage clients
to provide short, factual responses.
Often used to collect information, get focus on a topic, or manage a conversation
Open-ended questions encourage clients to expound on answers to provide some depth, detail, and context.
Often used to get clients to explore or get more in-depth on a topic
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Indirect Questions
Questions phrased as statements rather than questions
Allow client to decide whether or not to respond
Provide an alternative to questioning in the course of a conversation
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Use of Empathy
Assists clients in identifying and labeling feelings and provides support for clients to explore feelings
Basic empathy
Inferred empathy
Invitational empathy
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Common Communication Pitfalls
Jargon Leading questions Excessive questioning Multiple questions Irrelevant questions
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
Diversity Considerations
Social workers need to consider elements of their own and clients’ cultures and how these elements impact the working relationship.
Social workers can use supervision, education, self-exploration, and exploration with the client to learn more about diversity considerations and how they may influence the relationship between social worker and client.
© 2011 Taylor & Francis
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