Building Blocks of

Communication: Conveying
Empathy and Authenticity
Chapter 5
Determine Your
Client’s Expectations
 Clients bring varied
expectations
 Lectures, magical solutions,
advice, changing others, etc.
 Explore expectations
sensitively.
 BUT, take time to establish
rapport first.
Roles of the Participants

Emphasize Client Emphasize Difficulties

Responsibility Inherent in the Process
 What happens in the  Predicting difficulties can
sessions is far less prepare the client for
significant than how mixed feelings when
clients apply what they some obstacle presents
gained from the session. itself.
 Clients can speed their  Rather than feeling
progress by what they do defeated, they
between appointments. understand these are
natural obstacles and
can persevere.
Empathy and Authenticity

Facilitative Conditions Empathic Communication

 Empathy
 “The ability of the social worker to
 Respect perceive accurately and
 Authenticity (genuineness) sensitively the inner feelings of the
client and to communicate his or
her understanding of those
 Useful for involuntary clients or non feelings.”
therapeutic work.  Also required is the ability of the
social worker to separate from
those feelings to avoid
compassion fatigue.
Perceptiveness
to Feelings
 Involuntary clients may
experience strong feelings,
but have not sought out help
dealing with them.
 SW expresses empathy for the
situation and the feelings,
even when the client is not
taking responsibility for the
consequences of their
actions.
 Responses involve choice of
words, tone and nonverbal
gestures.
Accurately
Conveying Empathy
Level 0: Lack of empathic response
Level 1: Low level
Level 2: Moderately low level
Level 3: Reciprocal level (an effective
working level for a beginning SW)
Level 4: Moderately high level (somewhat
additive, aimed at enhancing self-
awareness)
Level 5: High level (responding to both
surface and underlying feelings and
meanings)
Empathy with other Interviewing Skills
Confrontations
 Used to expand clients’
awareness and motivate them to
action.
 Important when clients are
contemplating harmful or
unlawful actions, or
 When such actions conflict with
the client’s goals and values.
 Employ empathy with
confrontation.
Managing Obstacles
 Client opposition may be a
negative reaction to SW’s
interviewing or interventions.
 Excess talking may keep the
interview on a superficial level,
requires structure and
interventions to keep the
interview on track.
Managing Anger and Patterns
of Violence
 Empathic responding is essential.
 Common mistakes are reacting
defensively or challenging the client’s
perception.
 SW should reflect a genuine effort to
understand and encourages exploring
and problem-solving.
 People who engage in violence often
have underlying feelings of helplessness
and frustration, lack the skills to cope
with situations in more constructive ways.
 AUTHENTICITY: TYPES OF SELF-
DISCLOSURE
 Self-disclosure: “the conscious and intentional revealing of information
about oneself through verbal and nonverbal expressions.”
 Decisions about self-disclosure must be guided by a perception of benefit to
the client, not the social worker’s need to share.
 Authenticity: “the sharing of self by relating in a natural, sincere,
spontaneous, open and genuine manner.” Involves being non defensive
and human enough to admit one’s errors to clients.
 However: authentic expressions can be abrasive and destructive! Should
be done when it is likely to further therapeutic objectives.
 Focus should shift immediately back to the client.
Types of Self-Disclosure

 Personal self-disclosure messages: use sparingly, judiciously and only after

rapport and trust have been established.
 Authentic responses: (always use “I” messages) involve expressing feelings
and neutral descriptive language.
 Requests from clients for personal information: may or may not be
appropriate to answer; look for hidden concerns.
 Questions that solicit the social worker’s perceptions: should be assessed in
the same way. It is not necessary to answer questions you feel
uncomfortable about answering, but give an authentic reason.
 Your discomfort in a session should always be explored.
 RELATING ASSERTIVELY

Interruptions
 Social workers may need to
interrupt (verbally or nonverbally)
to keep the session focused.
 Interrupt client patterns that
exacerbate the problem.
 Openly address clients’ anger
and complaints. If ignored, they
will likely escalate.
 SAYING NO AND SETTING LIMITS

 Declining requests or setting limits may be difficult for beginning social

workers.
 Clients are much more likely to experience empowerment by increasing
their actions than by having social workers perform tasks they can do.
 Being tactfully assertive is not easy; social workers often need to enhance
their assertiveness skills.
 Beware of social media requests and other dual relationship issues.
 Clients often attempt to push boundaries through excessive phone calls,
office hours, session time, or coming to a session intoxicated.
 Maturing professionally means learning to set limits (and feel comfortable
doing so).