SOCWK120R Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Egalitarianism
Document Summary
Social workers often struggle with the appropriateness of sharing personal feelings with clients. This is usually discussed within the context of boundaries and there is no one answer. There are definitely times when beginning social workers should be careful in spontaneously expressing personal feelings. It is also important to understand the triggers and underlying issues that lead social workers to do so. On the other hand, such sharing can help demonstrate that it is common to have particular feelings. In the feminist approach, workers often share to illustrate common experience and draw the link to social structures. Workers will make mistakes and these mistakes form the basis of professional experience. What is frequently ignored is that clients can often forgive a mistake more easily than they can deal with a worker who seems perfect. The term dialogue may prove more useful than interview, as it denotes the two way nature of the interviewing process.