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In social work, it is significant to identify internal barriers that arise from a social worker and external barriers that come from a client and a relationship between them. On the one hand, finding possible obstacles is essential for social workers since this practice helps determine what issues prevent them from being present and integrated with clients (Geller & Greenberg, 2012). Simultaneously, being aware of the internal barriers allow therapists to control their stress levels and choose an appropriate behavior model (Geller & Greenberg, 2012). On the other hand, external obstacles arise from patients, and possible examples include an angry client, a person “facing dying or death,” and others (Geller & Greenberg, 2012, p. 152). Social workers should understand that patients’ words and emotions can significantly affect their professional practice and personal attitudes toward the situation. It means that sufficient attention should be drawn to external barriers to ensure that they do not prevent therapists from providing adequate service to clients.
The program case study for the Petrakis family reveals that both Helen and the social work intern experienced a few barriers. An internal obstacle emerged when the intern ignored the necessity to identify the actual reasons for Helen’s weak desire to ask her son, Alec, for help (Plummer et al., 2014). The intern interpreted this fact by thinking that Helen did not expect her children to contribute resources. The case study demonstrates that the social work intern made an error, which resulted in an external challenge. In a while, Helen angrily came and accused the intern of advising to ask Alec for help because this decision created many problems for the patient. This situation also made Helen experience anxiety and physical pain, which is another external barrier.
The social work intern can take a few specific steps to overcome the barriers above. Firstly, it is necessary to understand that all therapeutic sessions should have a particular goal (Singer, 2007). In the case study, the intern’s goal is to provide social work services to Helen, and the constant focus on this target should make the intern draw sufficient attention to all the details. Secondly, a helpful step for the intern is to invest in self-reflection (Geller & Greenberg, 2012). Upon working with Helen, the social work intern should admit that her task is not to give advice. This thought demonstrates that Helen makes all the decisions by herself. Understanding this can also create a shield for the intern when Helen angrily expresses her dissatisfaction with therapy outcomes.
If I were Helen’s social worker, I would use an appropriate strategy to address her anger and accusations. Firstly, it is of significance to stay calm and objective. This approach would imply that I would manage to refrain from responding aggressively to Helen’s anger. However, it would be necessary to ensure that the tranquility does not make me detached from the situation because Geller and Greenberg (2012) admit that presence and integration are required phenomena in social work. Secondly, it would be necessary to emphasize that I did not provide Helen with any guidelines or advice. I would stipulate that all my words were only suggestions on how the patient could respond to the situation. The actual actions and decisions were Helen’s, meaning that it would not be appropriate to accuse me of the consequences.
Even though the narrative above creates a feeling that addressing Helen’s anger is a simple process, it is an emotionally challenging issue. I suppose that I would experience stress if the patient comes and expresses disappointment with my work. At this point, it would be of significance to master emotions and do not let them overwhelm my thoughts. This statement implies that I would need to be always prepared for the fact that a client can return in anger. This readiness means that I would constantly analyze my own behavior, thoughts, and actions to be sure that they would not bring harmful results to the client. Consequently, such self-reflection is a vital skill for every social worker, and I can state that self-reflection would allow me to maintain a professional demeanor.
In conclusion, it is reasonable to comment on how I might benefit from self-disclosure while working with Helen. This skill implies that I could reveal some relevant personal information to the patient to create a trustworthy and tangible relationship. This step is advantageous since it encourages clients to disclose their information in full, which is of significance for Helen’s case study. It is possible to admit that the problems for the Petrakis family partially occurred because Helen did not explain that Alec had “struggled with maintaining sobriety” and had been on probation (Plummer et al., 2014, p. 21). It might have been beneficial in this case to mention the findings by Drinane et al. (2018) that patients’ concealment of information leads to worsened therapy outcomes. This evidence and my self-disclosure could have made Helen reveal complete details about her son, which could have helped avoid many adverse consequences.
References
Drinane, J. M., Owen, J., & Tao, K. W. (2018). Cultural concealment and therapy outcomes.Journal of Counseling Psychology, 65(2), 239-246.
Geller, S. M., & Greenberg, L. S. (2012). Therapeutic presence: A mindful approach to effective therapy. American Psychological Association.
Plummer, S.-B., Makris, S., & Brocksen, S. M. (Eds.). (2014). Sessions: Case histories. Laureate International Universities Publishing.
Singer, J. B. (Host). (2007). Developing treatment plans: The basics (Episode 11) [Audio podcast episode]. In Social Work Podcast.
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