Clinical Interview Essay

Comparing and Contrasting Approaches to New Clients According to "Bingham" and "Moore" The clinical interview is a conversation with a purpose. The initial interviewing process has an array of interviewing techniques and approaches that a social worker can use in attempting to service the client. It is important for the social worker to strive for objectivity and help clients articulate their thoughts without leading them to answer in a particular way (Williams, 2015). Clinical social work practice involves a systematic process and activity that is designed to assess client situations and help clients achieve agreed upon goals to promote optimal health and well –being (n.d., 2013). In the vignette the therapist used various

The therapist mirrors back what has been told to her (Cooper & Lesser, 2015). The reflection strategy confirms for the client that the therapist was listening and understands. This process leads to the establishment of rapport and the beginning of a therapeutic relationship (Pearson & Pearson, 1995-2010). In comparison Child Welfare Social Workers use exploration as a strategy when working with clients. Open-ended questioning seeks to explore the experiences and feelings of the client. For example, we might ask a client “Can you tell me how that happened? how did you feel after that?” In an open-ended interview, conversation flows in a natural and spontaneous way (Hart, n.d.). The conversation between the social worker and client is useful in acquiring information in order to make appropriate service referrals on behalf of the client. However, before advocating for change, it is important that we understand the issues in context, and how people make sense of the worlds in which they live (Hart, n.d.). Both reflection and exploration objective is to allow the client to speak openly and freely. The techniques both permit for the collection of data and recording of observations and findings. According to the National Code of Ethics, Social workers should include sufficient and timely documentation in records to facilitate the delivery of services and to