Phases of the helping process in social work

CHAPTER ONE Introducing the Helping Process

· I work at an agency that serves adolescent females. The length of stay at our short-term facility varies from 14 to 30 days, depending on their situation. We have kids who are in state custody and need temporary housing, juvenile court placements, homeless, or in crisis. Individual and family therapy, psycho-educational groups, health assessments, and food, clothing, and shelter are provided by the agency.

— A caseworker in St. Louis, MO

There is a variety of helping professions committed to helping those in need. Those professions in settings such as mental health, substance abuse, criminal justice, welfare, education, child and youth services, and legal aid, to name a few, are committed to helping clients address issues that emerge from problems in living. These professionals, committed to viewing clients from a holistic point of view, support client growth in areas such as social, physical, and mental health and financial, spiritual, educational, and vocational issues. The helping process is a fundamental way that professionals reach out to those in need and provide the support and structure necessary to influence their potential to develop and grow in positive ways. In this text we present knowledge and skills that will help you prepare to help others.

This chapter introduces you to a model of helping that guides many professionals who work in human service delivery. Helping is a purposeful undertaking that generally moves through three phases. We say “generally” because people are often unpredictable, problems or situations change, or services are disrupted for other reasons. The three phases of this helping model are not discrete categories with specific time limits. Rather, they illustrate the flow of the helping process that is individualized to each person, situation, or both.

This chapter also introduces the three components of the helping process: case review, documentation and report writing, and client participation. Both a strengths-based approach to the process and the ethical considerations that undergird the process are important parts of this chapter. Focus your reading and study on the following objectives, which you should be able to accomplish after reading the chapter.

Phases of the Helping Process

· ■ List the three phases of the helping process.

· ■ Identify the two activities of the assessment phase .

· ■ Illustrate the role of data gathering in assessment and planning.

· ■ Describe the helper’s role in implementation.

Three Components of the Helping Process

· ■ Define case review and list its benefits.

· ■ Support the need for documentation and report writing.

· ■ Trace the client’s participation in the three phases of the helping process.

Strengths-Based Approach to the Helping Process

· ■ Describe this approach as it relates to each phase of the helping process.

· ■ Discuss the advantages of this approach.

Ethical Considerations

· ■ List the principles that undergird professional practice.

· ■ Summarize the limitations of codes of ethics.

At times, learning about a new concept or process is difficult without a concrete example to illustrate what the process looks like in the real world. With this in mind, we would like to introduce you to the phases of the helping process through the experience of Roy Johnson, a client working with several helping professionals to address major difficulties he encounters. Roy’s experience is based upon a client that we know who has been involved in the human service delivery system for years. He has given us permission to adapt his experiences to illustrate the nature of the helping process.