PART THREE
THE PRACTICE OF HUMAN SERVICES
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE HELPING PROCESS
CHAPTER GOALS
After reading this chapter, you will be able to:
1. Distinguish helping relationships from other relationships
3. Demonstrate how a helper listens and responds to a client
5.Summarize the goals of motivational interviewing.
7. List the four stages of resolution-focused brief therapy
CHAPTER OBJECTIVES
At the end of the chapter, students will be able to:
1.1 List characteristics or skills that are important if the helper is to establish a
good relationship with the client.
1.3 Distinguish the helping relationship from other relationships.
2.2 Explain the strategies the helper uses to begin the first session with the client.
2.4 List three ways a helping relationship may end.
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3.2 Tell why non-verbal messages are important in communicating with a
client.
3.4 Contrast cognitive verbal messages and affective verbal messages.
3.6 Demonstrate a paraphrase
3.8 Identify four characteristics of groups.
4.1 Explain three ways to be sensitive to clients from different cultures
4.3 Demonstrate three strategies to counter resistance or reluctance.
4.5 Describe four difficulties with an over demanding client.
5.2 Provide two reasons you would use motivational interviewing to work with
clients.
6.2 Distinguish between developmental crises and situational crisis.
7.2 Write four guidelines for working with a client in crisis.
7.4 List the four stages of resolution-focused brief therapy
READINGS
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Introduction to Human Services – Chapter 7
Introduction to Human Services: Cases and Applications – Chapter 7
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Chapter Seven provides an overview of the helping process and the helping skills
that are necessary in human services. Motivational interviewing represents an
intervention that promotes change. Crisis intervention, a short term helping strategy,
The helping relationship is the medium through which help occurs. It is different
from other relationships in that it forms for a recognized and agreed upon purpose.
Helping relationships are also time bound and focus on the client’s problems and
concerns. Helping relationships usually move through five stages: preparation, client
arrival, problem exploration, intervention, and termination.
The helping skills that are essential for the helping process are divided into verbal
and nonverbal messages and listening and responding. The skillful helper is attentive to
A diversity of people seeks help. For example, culturally different clients require
helper awareness of and sensitivity to differences. Clients who are reluctant or resistant,
silent, overly demanding, or unmotivated also require different strategies.
An introduction to motivational interviewing presents a way to promote client
CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. The nature of the helping process
A. The relationship is the medium through which help occurs
1. Client-helper compatibility is important for an effective helping
relationship
1. Preparation
a. Eliminating barriers, ensuring confidentiality, and positioning
2. The client arrives
a. Part of taking charge of the interview is the use of “ice
3. Exploring the problem
4. Intervention strategies
5. Termination
a. The helping relationship may end in several ways
b. The most positive end occurs when the needed services are
provided and both participants are satisfied that the goals have
been reached
II. An introduction to helping skills
A. Nonverbal messages
2. Nonverbal messages provide important clues about what the client is
thinking or feeling
3. A difficulty with hearing the nonverbal expression of feelings is
ambiguity of the message
B. Verbal messages
2. Verbal messages have cognitive and affective components that can be
expressed both directly and indirectly
C. Listening and responding
1. The helper listens
2. The helper’s response
3. Asking questions
a. Questioning is a common method of eliciting information from
(1) to begin the interview
(3) to clarify
(4) to elicit examples of specific behavior
d. Closed and open questions facilitate the helping relationship
D. Working with groups
2. They establish a common agent
4. Other groups may be educational in nature
6. Groups may meet face-to-face or online
III. Skills for challenging clients
A. Culturally different clients
1. The key to working with culturally different clients is awareness of and
sensitivity to differences
3. Sensitive helpers will be aware that all means of expression should be
considered
4. The 4 C’s of culture expand the helper’s understanding of the client’s
culture.
B. The reluctant or resistant client
2. Resistant clients come for help but fail to follow through or participate
in the helping process
3. The principles for working with reluctant and resistant clients are
similar
C. The silent client
2. The helper must evaluate the meaning of silence to determine how to
respond
D. The overly demanding client
1. Certain behaviors will be a clue that a client is overly demanding
2. The helper must deal appropriately with this behavior
E. The unmotivated client
IV. Intervention strategies
A. Motivational Interviewing
2. Helps client define attitude and ambivalence to change.
3. Focus is on client’s examination of where he or she is in the change
4. Expressing empathy and findings discrepancies between where the client
is and where the client wants to be is important.
A. Crisis intervention
1. Defining crisis
a. A crisis is an individual’s emotional response to a threatening or
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(2) Situational crises do not occur with any regularity
2. How a crisis helps
a. The first phase is an individual’s reaction to a traumatic event
with increased anxiety
3. The helper’s role in crisis intervention
a. Certain skills and strategies are necessary for crisis intervention
(2) Establishing a relationship quickly is necessary since
crisis intervention is time limited
b. Steps in crisis intervention
(1) Assess the nature of the precipitating event and the
problem
(3) Implement the intervention
(4) Resolution of the crisis includes a plan for the future
and new ways of coping
B. Resolution-focused brief therapy
2. Focuses on reaching specific outcomes
4. Stages or steps
a. Relationship building
b. Identify client strengths and look for resources
INTRODUCING THE CHAPTER
1. Ask your students to work in pairs for this exercise. One student should assume
the roles of the human service professional seeing the client for the first time; one
student should assume the role of a client with a problem. Have each student
make notes before they talk with each other in the role play situation. The human
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service professional lists the information to be gathered. The client summarizes
what he or she is willing to tell the helper during their first interview. Note:
After students have completed this exercise, group the helpers together. Have
2. Ask students to think about a time in their lives when they have shared a problem
or concern with another individual. Have them identify the helpful behaviors and
LEARNING ACTIVITIES
Practice Active Listening
During the next week, practice active listening, helpful responses, and asking open
questions. Record the interactions and describe your own reactions.
Crisis Intervention
Have you ever experienced a crisis? If so, write a description of the experience. Recall
what stages developed. If you received help, did it match the steps outlined in crisis
intervention?
Agency Observation
This assignment will assist you in a beginning investigation of agency activities. Select
and visit a human service agency or organization in your community. Plan to spend 20–
30 minutes. Find a seat in the waiting or reception area, positioning yourself so that you
can observe clients, workers, and the physical environment. To guide your observation,
consider the following questions:
▪ Draw a plan of the reception area including the furniture.
READING AND STUDY GUIDE: READ, REVIEW, APPLY
These questions may help the student’s identify important concepts as they read the
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chapter.
1. What two questions guide helping?
2. List the characteristics of the helping relationship.
3. What questions can you ask yourself to increase your awareness of your own
helping skills?
4. What considerations should the helper give to the physical setting?
5. How can the helper introduce problem identification?
6. During the intervention stage, when is referral appropriate?
8. Describe how Carmen conducts the initial meeting with a client.
9. How does Carmen handle documentation?
11. What are non-verbal messages? Why are they important in a helping situation?
12. What is the cognitive component of a message? the affective component?
13. Define responsive or active listening.
14. What does Egan suggest a helper can do to let the client know the helper is
listening?
15. “To paraphrase” means what?
16. How does a helper ask good questions?
17. What is the key to working with culturally different clients?
18. What are the problems and miscommunications that can result if the helper is not
aware of the client’s cultural background?
20. How are the reluctant client and the resistant client alike and different?
21. Describe the difference between a situational crisis and a developmental crisis.
22. What problems does the unmotivated client present?
23. What is the purpose of motivational interviewing?
25. What is the helper’s role in crisis intervention?
26. What are the four stages of resolution-focused brief therapy?
The following questions will help students in their review of the chapter.
1. What distinguishes the helping relationship from other relationships?
2. Explain the purposes of each of the five stages of the helping process. What
special attitudes, skills, and values do helpers need for each of the five stages?
4. Why are verbal messages important? How does an understanding of verbal
messages help when working with culturally different clients? reluctant/resistant
clients?
5. Describe how the helper might best listen and respond to the client.
6. What special understanding do helpers need to work with culturally different
clients? reluctant/resistant clients?
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9. Why is a crisis different from other helping situations? How does the helping
relationship differ in a crisis? What skills are necessary?
TEST ITEMS
Multiple Choice
1. “What is helpful?” and “How can the needs of the client be met?” are the two
questions that guide
2. Encouraging responsibility and promoting self-help are
3. An individual, a small group, or a geographic area are examples of
4. The cornerstone of helping is
5. One of the things a helper will attend to before the client arrives is
6. The client’s arrival includes all but ONE of the following:
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a.* the review of all available documents
b. the use of “door openers” or “ice breakers”
c. inquiries about the problem
d. sharing information about the agency
7. A strategy or technique that helps the client become more comfortable with the
setting and the helper is
8. One person sending a message to another person with the conscious intent of
affecting the receiver’s behavior is called
9. The stage during which goals are set is
10. A person’s posture, tone of voice, gestures and eye contact are examples of
11. The behaviors of helpers as they attend to both the verbal and nonverbal
communication of the client is
12. The who, what, where, when, and why of a message is the
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13. Attending behavior includes the following nonverbal components EXCEPT:
14. The key to responding to a client’s message is for the helper to
15. A dependent client, poor helping skills, and an unsatisfactory helping relationship
are possible results of
16. Which of the following is the best way of eliciting information about a client’s
educational history?
17. Examples of questions which are helpful and appropriate are all EXCEPT:
18. The foundation of all group functioning is
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19. Awareness and sensitivity are keys to working with
20. Clients who may come for help more or less willingly but fail to carry through or
participate are
21. Missing appointments, rejecting the helper and inattentiveness are examples of
22. Motivational interviews focuses on
23. Defining crisis for an individual depends on several factors including
24. A state of crisis develops when
25. Resolution-focused brief therapy includes ALL but one of the following stages
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Discussion
1. What are the differences between formal and informal helping?
3. Describe some of the matters that a helper would want to attend to before the
client arrives.
5. Describe four components of the communication process and the importance of
each.
6. When is it appropriate to ask questions?
8. List some considerations when working with clients who are culturally different.
10. Describe when you might use resolution-focused brief therapy.