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Section 1: Referral Information
It was my first time to interact with the client, Mary, but I was briefed on the case prior to our
meeting This involved a mother, Mary, whose 24-year-old son, John works as a freelance graphic
designer at night. John tended to work at night hence the two hardly spent time together Mary felt
that the relationship was strained because of the difference in timing. Mary a nurse IS concerned
about the impact on John’s health, his social interactions and job profession. Besides, she feels that
their relationships are turning sour because John stays out at night and rarely communicate or touch
during the day.
Mary also agonised whether John has any mental health disorder that might be making him act that
way probably a depression or anxiety case. Still, she has thought that staying awake late into the
night is not a good thing, but John has sealed her lips saying he works better at night.
The referral given by Dr. Emily, a family therapist included the recommendation for the individual
counseling and family therapy and consultation with a sleep specialist. The referral was to enable
Mary reduce anger and frustration towards John and find better ways of handling themselves in the
relationship.
Section 2
Preparation Tasks in the Engagement Process
In order to approach the first meeting with Mary, several activities must be accomplished, which
always contributes to social work practice. Couroyer (2020) pointed out that preparation is an
activity within the engagement process because it lays the groundwork for a good working
relationship between the client and the social worker. It entails the assessment of the case file and
referral information of Mary, thinking about prior encounters with her and thinking about those
strategies of intervention that would best fit Mary’s current concern.
Besides engaging in a critical review of the referral, further information was gathered on potential
interventions which might be considered in the session. I weighed down the family therapy
proposed by Dr. Emily as well as the idea of involving a sleep doctor to deal with the night time
disorders from John. As Couroyer (2020) says, knowledge of potential solutions enables the social
worker to direct the client to the right service while fully respecting the client’s autonomy.
Another important preparation task was maintaining an empathetically concerned tone of the class.
Since I knew that Mary was frustrated, and she was emotionally charged up, I intended to engage
the session with features of active listening and reflective skills. I also thought the parenting power
struggle between Mary and John and was ready to address Mary’s emotions while at the same time,
respecting John’s independence.
Section 3
Beginning Tasks and Skills Used in the Initial Interview
When conducting the first interview with Mary, I used several general implementing beginning
tasks & skills that help in engagement. This was one of the major goals which involved creating
rapport in the interactional process with the client so that Mary could freely report her anxieties.
Researching about it and sharing, as well as, acknowledging and responding through Active
Listening and Reflecting Feelings.
One of them is that people employed the strategy of active listening throughout the course of the
session. While Mary was complaining about John’s way of living, I focused on listening to her
words and body language. Yao et al. (2020) further showed that active listening assists the client to
be heard as well as understood, which is very important during the engagement phase. I also
incorporated reflectively stated to make Mary comprehend that I understand how she feels. For
example, when Mary said, “It’s like, I’ve lost him,” I mean like, it just sounds to me like you are
really just freaking distraught or something and you have lost John and that cannot feel good to me
so I might say, “Wow, it sounds like you feel like you can’t find or connect with John and that must
really suck.”
Exploring Options and Empathy
Besides active listening I also employed empathy in a manner that helped me establish relationship
with Mary, and affirm her emotions. As much as I agree with Couroyer (2020) that empathy is
useful in the engagement process, I have always understood that it gives the client a feeling of being
valued. I said, “You are right to be worried about John; maybe he is avoiding everyone, or there
might be a problem with his head.”
I likewise discussed with Mary about the intervention strategies with dealing the problem, I thought
about the family therapy and talking to John directly about his way of living without arguing with
him. That is why, based on the experience of the discussed article Couroyer (2020), the involvement
of the client in the choice of actions in the framework of the engagement process seems reasonable.
Instead of presenting a solution, I was able to involve Mary in the decision making process through
a discussion of the possibilities.
Ability to engage in effective communication both, verbally and non verbally.
The last skill which was exhibited during the session was communication; both oral and written to
ensure the best non-verbal cues were portrayed. I was very careful with the choice of words, my
face expressions, and my body language to portray friendly session. Nonverbal communication
could therefore have a profound effect on the clients perception of the social worker, as well as the
advancement of the engagement process ; Williamson et al., 2020).
Section 4: Process Recording Analysis
The session was documented through process recording which captures the tasks and skills
employed during the engagement process. Also there are great examples of active listening and
empathic reflection as I listened to Mary and reflected her feelings and worries. This is done in the
analysis column where these skills are elaborated indicating how they were applied in achieving
rapport and fleshing out possibilities of solutions. For example, in the following exchange:
• Mary: “I’ve hit my patience bracelet.”
• Social Worker: “It seems to me that you have been overloaded with it for a rather long time, and
it puts a great deal of pressure on you.”
This interaction shows the application of reflection for the purpose of echoing Mary’s feeling state
while getting to where the next steps are at the same time.