Working with People

Louise Harms is an Associate Professor and Director at University of Melbourne

• Part 1: Framing the Relationship Chapter 1: Working Towards ChangeExperiences of human adversity  Why do we have human services?  Who is involved in human service work?  Core values in the client–social worker relationship  Transforming values into practice  Chapter 2: Understanding Communication and Change Understanding communication  Communication as a process  Verbal communication processes Non-verbal communication processes Individual and collective communication processes Chapter 3: Theorising Communication and Change The influences on our listening Paradigms and worldviews  Theoretical knowledge  Factual knowledge  Stages of change  Consumer perspectives  Practice knowledge or wisdom A multidimensional approach Part 2: Forming the Relationship Chapter 4: Skills for Your ‘Use of Self’  Why the ‘use of self ’ is an important concept for social workers  Your use of self in context  The purpose of your agency  Chapter 5: Self-Care Skills  Self-care: Managing the impacts of your work Supervision  Debriefing and psychological first aid  Chapter 6: Engagement Skills Preparing to meet  Confidentiality  Using self-disclosure  Part 3: Focusing your Communication  Chapter 7: Listening and Questioning Skills  The task of establishing the story  What other verbal skills can I use to establish and clarify the story?  Chapter 8: Reflecting Skills: Paraphrasing and Summarising  Building a deeper understanding of people’s experiences  Active listening in practice  Chapter 9: Assessment Skills  Moving towards an assessment formulation  Who is the assessment for?  What are some of the challenges in the assessment process?  What assessment frameworks are used?  A multidimensional assessment framework  What interventions are used?  How do we set the goals for the work?  Chapter 10: Ethical Decision-Making and Risk Assessment Skills  Shifting to a focus on risk  Threatening behaviour towards self and others  Revisiting confidentiality  Part 4: Focusing Your Interventions: Skills for Theoretically Informed Practice  Chapter 11: Psychodynamic and Cognitive Behavioural Approaches and Skills  Psychodynamic approaches to practice Cognitive behavioural approaches to practice  Strengths and limitations of these skills  Chapter 12: Narrative and Solution-Focused Approaches and Skills Narrative approaches to practice Solution-focused approaches to practice Strengths and limitations of these skills  Chapter 13: Feminist and Critical Social Work Approaches and Skills  Feminist and critical social work approaches to practice  Strengths and limitations of these skills  Chapter 14: Mindfulness Approaches and Skills  Mindfulness approaches to practice Strengths and limitations of these skills  Chapter 15: Task-Centred and Crisis-Intervention Approaches and Skills Task-centred approaches to practice Crisis-intervention approaches to practice  Strengths and limitations of these approaches  Part 5: Finishing the Work  Chapter 16: Ending and Evaluating Skills Thinking about finishing the work  The tasks of finishing the work  A final word on strengths, optimism and communication