Team_Presenation

Tracy Newman BSHS322/ Communication Skills for the Human Services Professional College of Health and Human Services University of Phoenix April 26, 2010 As a human service professional we will have many clients that have different personalities, and that will have different situations that they will need assistance with. While we have to hold our personal values, and morals to us, we at the same time have to remain professional in all environments and regardless of the client and regardless of what they may do during the therapy sessions. During weeks one and two we have learned not only the different characteristics that our clients may have, but we also learned about different types of clients that there may be that may be more difficult to deal with considering our values. Knowing our limits and what we are able to handle is very important in this type of career because some of the things that we may come into contact with may affect our ability to do our jobs efficiently. In chapter four our text reviews “Clients I might find hard to accept”. During our professional careers there are a lot of clients that we may find it very hard to work with. This is because some clients may feel that they don’t need assistance and that seeing a therapist is not for them, while others may think that it is for them and that the professional just doesn’t know anything about them or what they need. Exercise 4.3 gave a list of clients that we had to list from easiest to deal with to the hardest. For this exercise I placed the Gay adolescent as the easiest to deal with because they are just coming into their own and doesn’t really know if this is a final decision. These types of clients are also easier to deal with because they are adolescents and do a better job with listening to what the professional has to say rather than try to argue and think that they know it all. The hardest, I listed as the drug addicted mother. I placed this last because children are my biggest weak point. When it comes to the safety and love of a child I have no remorse for a mother, especially if they are placing something that they can pretty much control over their own flesh and blood. The text says that “Uncomfortable presence makes for uncomfortable relating and working and can wordlessly signal lack of empathy and attunement to the needs of others” (Murphy & Dillon, 2003, para. 22). This quote is very important because whenever we are placed in an uncomfortable situation, or a situation in which we can’t handle ourselves professionally, we are placed in a type of bind that makes it very difficult for us to work and to provide the best services possible. With having to deal with client’s different positions and perspectives about things, it sometimes makes it difficult for us to deal with when placed in these different situations. With this career we want our clients to have repose with us. Repose, meaning that they can confide in us regardless of the situation. As long as our clients (regardless of their perspectives and situations) are calm and trusting, they are able to provide the response that we need in order to assist them with their problems. Our repose is what sets us apart from other clinicians, and is the sole basis for the environment that we use for our clients. We are often told to lower our standards, or expectations, while other groups contend appropriately for more adequate and responsive services (Cooper, 1977). There are both larger and immediate system contexts that can affect our lives as well. Social, economic, and religious forces are just some of the contexts that can affect our lives and how we are affected not only by people that we come into contact with, but clients that we are interviewing as well. A little of all these forces are all factors that can affect me at times. I try not to let it affect my repose towards clients, or anyone around me, but I know that sometimes my nonverbal clues can show my true disposition. I believe that the hardest client to accept would have to be the drug addicted mother. Although she has her own addiction that she is fighting, there are either one or more children involved in the situation which makes it harder to accept. Mainly becaus4e they are fighting for love and acceptance from the one person that they love with their all unconditionally which is their mother’s love. There are a lot of emotions involved and parenting can be a very difficult topic for most people to try and accept. My clinical repose would always be centered and relaxed, so that would be something that my clients would always look forward to in me as their therapist. So even though this would be a more difficult client to deal with, I believe that I would still try and work with this client because they need just as much help, if not more help than everyone else that would walk into my office. It would really be difficult, but I would have to be very firm with my position, but still relaxed to show the client that I am still supportive of them, and that I will help with whatever they need assistance with. So the first week of discussion, we reviewed our position about clinicians and how we felt about them with our different situations that we have experienced in the past, and how we would have treated this in the eye of the clinician. During week two we were the actual clinician and gathered more information on how we are not only perceived in the client’s eyes, but also how we should act in different situations, in order to be that one person that the client can depend on. Within chapter four we learned about mainly support and empathy. We learned about emotions, and how they can get the best of us. We learned about verbal and nonverbal clues that would lead us to the actual disposition of a client when interviewing them. We also learned how our verbal and nonverbal clues can be a trigger to the client, therefore we have to obtain the same typed of repose during each session so that the client will feel more comfortable regardless of what is being discussed and how it affects both of us considering the feelings, morals, and values of us both. These two weeks have brought me closer to the profession of human services, and has also made me think about a lot of things that have happened in my life (including the morals and values, that I have held dear to me all of my life), and how those things may affect my ability to help certain clients out. References Murphy, B. C., & Dillon, C. (2003). Interviewing in Action: Relationship, Process, and Change. Available from https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary2/content/eReader.aspx'assetMetaId=b6fb9a6c-7de9-4ecd-aef6-c291be4a0a76&assetDataId=a87c75d9-4f8b-4072-b0fe-ecec3e1d1830&assetpdfdataid=ec838a97-708d-4d89-b53f-e9deb5605c47. Cooper, S. (1977, December). Reflections on clinical social work. Clinical Social Work Journal, 5(4), 303-315.