Termination as an Important Part of Social Work

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Table of Contents

Termination
Professional and Personal Challenges in Termination
The Importance of Self-Awareness
The Case of O. K.
O. K.’s process recording
References

Termination

Termination is a crucial and inevitable part of social work. It is defined as the process of ending a social worker’s professional relationship with his or her client. This process can be triggered when the goals of the intervention have been reached, when the time allotted for the intervention is over, or when the client is no longer interested in continuing (Barker, 2013). It represents significant importance to social work because it can have a critical lasting impact on both the client and the social worker. Critical evaluation can occur as part of this process, further increasing its potential effect on its participants. Therefore, termination presents significant challenges, both personal and professional, to the social worker.

Professional and Personal Challenges in Termination

The professional challenges involved in the process of termination are generally related to the assessments and evaluations that occur during it. The nature of the first assessment is determined near the start of the working relationship between the social worker and his or her client, when the goals of the intervention are determined (Thompson, 2015). Understanding when these goals are achieved, or deciding that they are not achievable, can be challenging. Thus, the first challenge with termination is initially deciding the conditions under which it will occur, and then understanding that these conditions have been met or cannot be met. For a probation officer, an error in these decisions can mean the difference between recidivism and successful reintegration (Andersen & Wilderman, 2015). This makes them especially challenging and stressful due to the potentially significant impact they can have on the client as well as those potentially affected by their subsequent actions.

If the termination occurs for reasons other than the successful meeting of the initial intervention goals, it can be challenging to decide on an appropriate course of action to follow. If a referral to a different specialist is required, difficulties can arise from choosing one. Furthermore, if the termination occurs because of a failure to meet the initial goals, especially due to the client’s lack of cooperation, it can be difficult to communicate during the process. It can also be challenging to choose the appropriate degree of self-disclosure when explaining the reasons for termination, especially if they stem from the social worker (Kantrowitz, 2014). These factors make non-mutual termination particularly difficult for a social worker.

Termination can be personally challenging for both the social worker and the client. Since the two can build a strong rapport and a degree of social inter reliance that can go beyond a professional relationship. Even if the relationship is strictly professional, it is often be associated with feelings of loss (Weil, Katz, & Hilsenroth, 2017). While the study referenced claims that limiting the description to loss is oversimplifying it, the loss is, nonetheless, often ascribed to both the professional and the client (Weil, Katz, & Hilsenroth, 2017). Coping with this loss becomes a significant part of the social worker’s life and a potential cause of stress. Furthermore, the client can experience a similar loss, which can, in turn, worsen his or her outcome, especially if the termination occurred abruptly. This fact connects the personal and professional challenges in the process and highlights its importance in social work.

Another source of stress for a probation officer is caused by feelings of uncertainty following a termination. Since it can be difficult to determine whether the intervention succeeded and its intended effect will last, a social worker can experience doubt about the client’s outcome. Considering the significant possibility of harm should a client recidivate, this can lead one to blame him or herself for negative consequences that could have been prevented, questioning his or her competency as a social worker.

A probation officer’s contact with his or her client is intended to correct a specific issue. However, this issue can have underlying personal causes that cannot be resolved by the social worker. These can stem from the lack of a social support network, a low socioeconomic status, or any other reason that is beyond the social worker’s ability to help. Attempting to resolve these issues would mean intruding into the client’s personal life, which is not possible in a professional relationship. Nonetheless, exercising restraint in one’s response to these issues, particularly during or after termination, can be a frustrating or difficult experience.

The Importance of Self-Awareness

Self-awareness and conscious use of self are crucial skills in social work. The latter involves integrating “the skill sets taught in social work … with their authentic selves” (Kaushik, 2017, p. 21). To integrate these matters, one needs to be aware of his or her thoughts, feelings, biases, and attitudes (Kaushik, 2017). Especially in the probation department, where clients can be diverse in terms of gender, culture, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, or religion, the social workers’ attitudes and biases are likely to come in conflict with what is necessary to aid the client. Therefore, understanding and controlling these biases and attitudes is a crucial part of an effective intervention, which extends to the termination process (Fabbre, 2016; Ferguson, 2018; Jani, Osteen, & Shipe, 2016). One must avoid projecting his or her belief system, view of the world, or values onto the client and assist within those of the client, or acting on any existing prejudices.

As a working relationship between the social worker and his or her client is guided by their attitudes and worldviews, so does the process of ending this relationship. It is crucial to understand both the social worker and the client’s attitudes towards this and establish boundaries for future social contacts, especially in settings where such contacts are likely (Chenoweth, McAuliffe, 2017). As ethical concerns can arise during this phase, as well, these need to be considered within both the client and the social worker’s perspectives.

The Case of O. K.

I was temporarily assigned to O. K. as part of my work placement. This termination occurred at the end of the assignment’s allotted time. Considering the rapport and positive relationship we have developed over its course, the aforementioned feelings of loss are likely to present a challenge. I want to believe that I was successful in establishing myself as a positive influence and source of support, losing which, considering her otherwise primarily negative social contacts, can be a cause of distress and possible relapse. Although she has made progress in resolving her issue, it is far from being complete. I find it difficult to release a professional relationship that in this state, and feel anxiety over the fact that O. K. might relapse. For the agency, I foresee no significant difficulties arising from this termination.

Gender, culture, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, age, and religion can be significant factors in developing rapport and relationships between the social worker and his or her client. While this kind of rapport is crucial to achieving a positive outcome, it can also complicate the process of termination. Shared religion and culture also increase the likelihood of being in the same community and attending the same events, making establishing boundaries for post-termination social contact crucial. Conversely, it is possible to misunderstand one another’s intentions due to limited familiarity with one another’s culture or religion. This misunderstanding can lead to miscommunication during critical parts of the termination process or disagreement as to whether intervention goals have been achieved.

Although the termination process can be short about the overall working relationship between the social worker and his or her client, many of the same social work skills are required to make this process successful. As this is a critical phase of the professional relationship, empathy, active listening, and social perceptiveness are crucial to understanding the client’s response to it and predicting any possible issues that need to be resolved. Cooperation and persuasion are also important if any questions or conflicts arise during the process. Setting boundaries is a similarly crucial part of it, especially considering that for some clients, the ending of a positive professional relationship can seem like an invitation to a personal one. As described above, self-awareness plays a critical part in understanding the social worker’s biases, prejudices, and conflicts of interest and preventing them from interfering in the process. Finally, as a stressful and potentially anxiety-inducing part of social work, termination requires a significant degree of relaxation to recover and prepare for new working relationships.

Common mistakes related to the termination process can relate to the evaluation of its conditions. It is possible to mistakenly evaluate the progress made during the relationship and decide that the goals of the interventions have been achieved. As the process requires a careful balancing of the professional and the personal, as well as setting boundaries, it can be challenging to decide on the correct approach. Behaving too professionally during termination can lead the client to believe that the relationship was unwanted, while an excessively personal presentation can interfere with the boundaries that need to be established. Both of these errors can lead to worse outcomes for the client. Furthermore, it is crucial to plan for the termination process in advance, and inform the client of it as early as possible, to allow him or her time to prepare and adjust.

O. K.’s process recording

I inform O. K. that this is our last session, as our allotted time has come to an end. She seems a little uncomfortable but responds that she remembers. I proceed to outline the progress we made during our relationship; she appears glad to hear this, but somewhat absent-minded. I assure her with this progress, she has gotten much closer to resolving her issue, and will soon be moving on to new things and achievements. She asks whether she will get a new intern assigned since she is still under probation. I explain that I am not sure, but will look into the matter and inform her once I found out. I affirm her progress and explain that whoever takes over her case, is going to continue with her progress, but I cannot continue past the assigned time, although I’d be happy to continue working with her if it was possible. We say our goodbyes, shaking hands as a closing ritual.

In this dialogue, I primarily present empathy and cooperation. Overall, I think I may have been too dry and impersonal in the process. I should have reminded her that our last session is approaching earlier to give her the time to prepare, as the news came to her as a shock — I wrongly assumed that she was keeping track of the remaining sessions. Also, I should have checked with the agency about what is planned for O. K. so I had an answer ready.

References

Andersen, L. H., & Wildeman, C. (2015). Measuring the effect of probation and parole officers on labor market outcomes and recidivism. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 31(4), 629-652. doi:10.1007/s10940-014-9243-4
Barker, R. L. (2013). The Social Work Dictionary. NASW Press.
Chenowith, L., & McAuliffe, D. (2017) The Road to Social Work and Service Practice. Cengage AU.
Fabbre, V. (2016). Queer aging: Implications for social work practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer older adults. Social Work, 62(1), 73-76. doi:10.1093/sw/sww076
Ferguson, H. (2018). How social workers reflect in action and when and why they don’t: the possibilities and limits to reflective practice in social work. Social Work Education, 37(4), 415-427. doi:10.1080/02615479.2017.1413083
Jani, J. S., Osteen, P., & Shipe, S. (2016). Cultural competence and social work education: Moving toward assessment of practice behaviors. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(3), 311-324. doi:10.1080/10437797.2016.1174634
Kantrotitz, J. L. (2014). Myths of Termination: What Patients Can Teach Psychoanalysts About Endings. Routledge.
Kaushik, A. (2017). Use of self in social work: Rhetoric or reality. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 14(1), 21-29.
Thompson, N. (2015). Understanding Social Work: Preparing for Practice (4^th ed.). Palgrave Macmillan.
Weil, M. P., Katz, M., & Hilsenroth, M. J. (2017). Patient and therapist perspectives during the psychotherapy termination process: The role of participation and exploration. Psychodynamic Psychiatry, 45(1), 23-43. doi:10.1521/pdps.2017.45.1.23

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