What Ever the Chapter Is

Issues that you can show empathy about (p.64)
1 Not making enough money to take care of her children.
2 No one seems to want to help her. She has to deal with her problems on her own.
3 She might feel that her mother is being judgmental of her partner, hence the reason why she wants them to move out of the house.
4 She is tired after working long hours and has no patience in working with her own issues.
5 She probably wants concrete solutions to her woes.
6 She is probably wishing for her significant other to snap out of his bad habits and finally step up to fulfill his responsibilities.
7 She is probably questioning what sort of mistake she has done in her life that made her "deserve" these hardships in life as punishment.
8 She probably has low self-worth and may not see that she deserves a better life.
Empathetic Responses To Issues (p.65)
1 Enable the client to speak as much as they need, without being judged. The client needs someone to listen and mirror back their own emotions so that they can sift through the confusing clutter of their emotional life and find the solutions based on what they think they are cable of doing.
2 It is also important for the social worker to show his/her client that he/she is listening attentively. To do this, one can reflect back what the client has said, as well as give feedback on one’s emotional reaction to what the client has said. Of course, it is important to keep focus that the conversation about the client’s emotions and not the social worker’s.
3 Empathy is a two-way street. The client gets a sense of the social worker’s empathetic capabilities when the social worker is capable sharing his/her own experiences and how it has affected decisions he/she has made in the past. This becomes a take-off point for asking questions about the client’s possible decisions, and brings to the surface the client’s thought patterns that could help or worsen the condition.
4 Depending on the level of relationship between the client and the social worker, some form of physical affection can be shared. For example, a simple tap on the shoulder, a slight touch on the hand, or a hug enables the client to feel that someone is willing to listen, and be vulnerable in helping him/her overcome his/her problems.
Consequences of Alice’s Decisions (p. 67)
Positives

Negatives

1. She will finally be able to stand up on her own, without the help of her mother.

1. She will not be able to take care of her children and provide them the care of a mother which they need.

2. She and her partner can finally explore a life where they are in command, and learn to work together.

2. There is no guarantee that he will change. He might go back to his old ways, and he might not be able to care for the children in the way that a mother would.

3. Perhaps her significant other will realize the need for him to step up and share in the responsibilities of the household

3. She will expose her children to possible physical abuse since she is not there to look after them.

Skills and tools used to assist clients to see consequences (p.68)
Often, a simple conversation can help the client see the consequences of his/her action.
The social worker can reflect back the decision the client plans to make and then to ask pertinent questions about aspects of it that he/she may not have explored yet. In the case of Alice, the social worker can say, "If you choose to find a place with your significant other and have him take care of the children while you work longer hours, how do you think will it affect your children? Your health? How will you arrange your life so that you can spend time with your family?" It is also important for the social worker to help the client discover what his/her priorities in life are, and see how the decisions he/she will make can affect these priorities.
Resources to help clients make decisions (p. 68)
Enabling the client to discover his/her strengths is one of the most effective ways to help him/her make decisions. The social worker can tap into his/her network to find opportunities for the client, and when the client sees what his/her capacities are, as well as the opportunities available to him/her, then his/her world opens; the client can see the potential in tapping into his/her strengths.
How to find resources and access to resources (p.69)
1 The local government typically has programs/funding that the social worker can tap into to support the needs of his/her client.
2 In the case of Alice, there are various women’s organizations who can provide her with the skills to setup and maintain her own business, as well as give her the psycho-emotional support to overcome her personal challenges.s
p. 74
HBSE: When clients first come in contact with their social worker, they are fresh from the troubles of their lives and they are still unable to disengage from their concerns. The social worker ...