6 PEER RESPONSES DUE IN 6 HOURS.. EACH SET OF 2 HAS ITS OWN INSTRUCTIONS 

 Respond to at least two of your classmates  

KORIE’S POST:

I am going to be using my current job as a scenario. I currently work with an orthopedic, neurologist, and Interventional pain management doctor. We do send our patients out if our doctors can not fully treat the patient to there full capacity.

I have a patient that had gotten into a horrible car accident  that she and her husband were hospitalized for a month from. They were driving back to FL from TX and another car went to switch lanes and he saw the car and with a quick reaction he switched lanes and with that they got dragged 10 feet under a semi truck. They had lots of neck and back pains, but mostly PTSD really badly.

I go in and I get the history and vitals and go over a bunch of things with the patient before the Dr goes in. I will present the case to the Dr and then they go in to see the patient. Once, the Dr comes out he will tell me what the plan is with the patient so then I can get them set up with all orders. When I had presented this case with the Dr, I told them all that they will need to see a Physc due to the severity of the PTSD.

The Dr did come out of the room and did tell me that he is going to be sending the patients to see a Physc as even with his neurologist skills this PTSD is out of his hands. Our, office does not do deep PTSD as this patient does need to have. We also sent the patient to see a counselor as well to have someone else to speak to regarding this accident. Some people once they are in an accident they do get very freaked out and very gittery to drive again, some have such issues that they get panic attacks or black out when in the car just as a passenger.

We had to send this patient out as our office does not handle such cases as deep with PTSD as this case was.

BROOKE’S POST:

The organization I work for now has many different departments.  While we all work in public health, we all do different things.  We all serve the same population but we all target different individuals in that population.  I currently work in the education department which means, I cannot help an individual that comes in and needs help in the health insurance department.  What I can do is refer that person out to the person in charge of that.  My current workplace may not fit into this scenario as much as mental health and/or health professionals. 

Scenario:

          Adult male comes in to the VA clinic for his weekly marriage counseling appoint with his clinical social worker.  Husband and Wife have been attending weekly cognitive behavior therapy marriage counseling for the last 4 months with no notable change in marriage or attitudes in regards to marriage.  The couple has 3 children, a mix of yours, mine, and ours.  Wife moved out of the couples home with the children for the last 9 months.  The first appointment the couple had was separate appointments for each.  It is clear that husband has severe untreated PTSD from his time in the ARMY, Post 9-11.  The clinical social worker understands the need for the husband to work on his untreated PTSD as it relates to his marriage.  The PTSD counseling should not be a part of the marriage counseling but in conjunction with it.  The social worker understands that he may not treat the husband due to a conflict of interest and he cannot write prescriptions that may aide in the treatment of the husband’s PTSD.  The social worker recognizes the untreated PTSD is negatively impacting the marriage and the husband’s efforts in the marriage.  For this reason, the husband will be referred out to a specialist who is not only trained in intensive PTSD therapy but one that can also prescribe medications and have more available resources for the Husband. 

          The counseling relationship is different than others in a number of ways but one of the biggest ways is because time is limited, at some point the relationship between counselor and client will end (Natwick, 2017).  Often times, individuals do not stay in counseling forever like they would with a primary care physician.  Needs and/or problems resolve through counseling or change and an individual is either done or needs to be referred out.    There are also times when ethics comes in to play and this would require termination or referrals.  Just because a counselor is trained or educated on a specific condition does not always mean that is the best fit for the client.  It would be unethical for a counselor to take on a client he/she may not be trained or feel confident enough in treating.  This is doing a huge disservice to the client.  At this point the counselor has to make the decision to continue treatment or refer out to someone who can adequately handle the client’s unique situation and so the client has the best care to succeed.  Counselors must know when ending the relationship is appropriate and they must not use termination and referral when they are self-serving or unethical (Natwick, 2017). 

Natwick, J. (2017). On the ethics of ending: Termination and referrals. https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/ethics/ethics-columns/ethics_may_2017_terminations-and-referrals.pdf?sfvrsn=ea25522c_6.

Guided Response: Consider ways in which you might like to interact with your peers. For example, do you have any ideas regarding different techniques and styles your peers’ selected professional might use? Have you seen any of these in action in the human services field? Please be courteous and adhere to the rules of respectful engagement throughout your replies.

TAMEKA;S POST:

Listening Styles

​The listening styles mainly used when working with clients in the profession of human services include critical as well as nonjudgmental listening styles. These listening styles spotlight on more on the client, rather than on the helper. The listening styles also incorporate a lot of empathy which makes the clients aware of how the helper really cares about them and their conditions. When the clients know that there is care from the helper’s end, he or she tends to open up more and speak freely. These listening styles also work to promote the helper’s or counsellor’s discernment. The counsellor gets to assess the client’s intentions or motives, their conversation subject and put him/herself on the client’s situation or condition.

Skills of Active Listening

The three main skills of active listening include (1) knowing what is said by the client or speaker as well as what they implied; (2) acknowledging the client’s feelings; (3)helping the client to explore thoughts and feelings (DeVito, 2016). The three skills are critical in the helping or counselling process, and it is a requirement that all professionals should consider. When handling clients, it remains vital to understand what they say, recognize their feelings, then help them in letting their thoughts out freely. 

Basic Counseling Skills

​The basic counselling skills include summarizing and body language (Duggan, 2020). The body gestures portrayed by a client in the helping process depict whether he/she is comfortable or not. Body gestures also show how the client is feeling about what he/she is saying. Summarizing is largely used in highlighting specific important points within a conversation.

References

DeVito, J. A. (2016). The interpersonal communication book. Pearson College Division.

Duggan, T. (2020). Counseling & interviewing skills for human services. Work – Chron.com. https://work.chron.com/counseling-interviewing-skills-human-services-27490.html

MICHELLE’S POST:

With every first meeting (no matter which setting it is) always begins with the listening styles of surface, nonjudgmental, and inactive. Surface style surveys your various options the provider can give, nonjudgmental style expresses a neutral affinity towards the individual, and inactive style allows limitations that can be set between the individual and the provider. As the meetings continue on, the listening styles can then move forward of depth, critical, and active. Depth style can allow an exploration of the individual’s thoughts/emotions, critical style can help determine what actions can be made to improve the individual’s health, and active style will allow the limitations to become a compromise instead.

Active listening ranges from a variety of techniques but I feel that understanding, evaluating, and responding are more efficiently used throughout both interpersonal and group settings. Understanding is the stage which you learn what the speaker means— the stage at which you grasp both the thoughts and the emotions expressed (DeVito, 2019). As a professional, you want to understand how the client is feeling and the explanation to their behaviors but in order to do so, we must be open minded and allow ourselves to place us in their shoes. Evaluation is a technique to decipher the intentions of what your client is trying to tell you or how they are truly feeling. When listening to your client, you want to pay close detail to words or phrases that may lead to the inclination that harm may be evident. Responding occurs in two phases: responses you make while the speaker is talking (immediate feedback) and responses you make after the speaker has stopped talking (delayed feedback) (DeVito, 2019). While the conversation is being held between the client and the professional, it is important for the professional to provide their responses every now and then to ensure that the client is being heard and given the full attention. After the conversation has ended, the professional may provide a more thorough response about the client’s meeting held that day and decide what other tasks are needed to be accomplished from there.

Three interviewing skills a professional can use in both an interpersonal and group setting would be paraphrasing, body language, and summarizing. Paraphrasing is when you restate what the speaker said (Steven, 2020). A professional may use paraphrasing to ensure that (1) the client was given undivided attention and (2) make sure that what the client was saying is being understood by the professional. Body language takes into account our facial expressions, angle of our body, proximity of ourself to another, placement of arms and legs, and so much more (Steven, 2020). A professional may express facial reactions to show to the client empathy and that the professional is able to understand how the client is feeling in that moment. Summarizing is focusing on the main points of a presentation or conversation in order to highlight them. At the same time you are giving the “gist”, you are checking to see if you are accurate (Steven, 2020). After a session, a debriefing can allow the client to hear and understand what the professional may or may have not missed. This can help determine what is needed to be brought up for the next session and any other concerns the client may have.

References

DeVito, J. (2019). The Interpersonal Communication Book. Instructor, 1, 18. https://catalogue.pearsoned.ca/assets/hip/ca/hip_ca_pearsonhighered/preface/013462310X.pdf (Links to an external site.).

Steven, J. (2020). Basic Counseling Skills Everyone Can Learn and Use. https://www.basic-counseling-skills.com/ (Links to an external site.).

 Guided Response: Consider ways in which you might like to interact with your peers. For example, what do you think about the emotional messages that your peers chose to use in their scenario? What would you do differently, and why? Please be courteous and adhere to the rules of respectful engagement throughout your replies. 

MONICA’S POST:

When working in family and community services you encounter people from different cultures, different ages, different genders, and different races. Often you meet people who have lost jobs, homes, or loved ones. It is important to engage in emotional expression when working with these people. “Feelings constitute a great part of your meaning. If you leave your feelings out or you express them inadequately you fail to communicate a great part of your meaning” (DeVito, 2016, Sec. 7.1). For example, when you are speaking to someone who has lost a loved one, it is important to show empathy and compassion for their loss. Emotions can be shown verbally and nonverbally with facial expressions and gestures and match the words you use. Making them feel comfortable and that what they are saying is important to you. It is important to remember that emotions can be influenced by culture, gender, and personality. Some people don’t show their emotions as easily as others because of their culture or gender and it is important to be mindful of that. 

It is important to show empathy in both interpersonal and group settings alike. Ways to show empathy would be permitting the person to grieve their loss, avoid trying to focus on the bright side, encourage the person to express feelings and talk about their loss, let the person know you care and are available.  (DeVito, 2016, Sec. 7.3). In a group setting if someone is upset pulling them aside or speaking to them after the group activity would be a good way to show your empathy. 

One theory that can be applied to communicating in this field would be communication accommodation. It would be beneficial to match the style of speech as the client because if they are sad and speaking quietly you can match their speech and show your empathy. Speaking loudly and excitedly would be inappropriate because it could make them uncomfortable and cause them to shut down. 

One example where self-disclosure could be used as a means of communication would be someone who lost a parent. My father passed away when I was six and disclosing this information might help show the person I know what it’s like to lose a loved one. I feel like in this situation it would be appropriate because it would help relate to the client and build a trusting relationship with them. 

References

DeVito, J.A. (2016). The interpersonal communication book (14th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

ALICIA’A POST:

What are some ways in which effective means of emotional expression is used to engage with a client experiencing a problem (e.g., loss of job, homelessness, health concerns, etc.)?

Children of a younger age tend to have a more difficult time sharing how they feel as well as how to appropriately express those feelings which usually leads to enraged outbursts.  They can have difficulty calming down and even exhibit violent behaviors such as biting and hitting or kicking.  Some emotional expressions could be respecting boundaries, because everyone has a different tolerance for emotional communication (DeVito, 2016).  Children can be very short about this.  This can be difficult with children because if taken to far the child is basically given free range to be out of control so it must be done in a controlled sense.  Talking it out can also be helpful so long as you are sure to not judge the child.

Identify empathy skills in interpersonal and group settings (e.g., one-on-one client interaction, facilitating a group session, etc.) that you might use as a human services professional.

When one is empathetic it means that they are relating to another person’s feelings and intentions in a certain situation.  With small children you need to let them know that you are identifying with their emotions without ridiculing them.  By engaging them and ensuring them that their feelings are okay and not to be mocked you enable the child to talk about their feelings with you without fear of reprimanding from anyone else they engage with (Joseph, Strain, Yates, & Hemmeter, 2006).

Describe one communication theory (i.e., constructivist, attachment, communication accommodation, attribution) that can apply to this situation as it relates to communicating messages (e.g., how messages are communicated, processes related to communicating messages, etc..). See Week One’s required website readings.

With children, the attachment theory would be the most useful communication theory.  This theory is based in social and emotional development through motivation and personality by dealing with the intimacy of established relationships (Changing Minds, 2002).  With children an attachment is crucial to being able to connect with them because unlike most adults, young children can be completely terrified of a stranger they do not trust.  By building an attachment so that they want to see you and enjoy talking with you about their feelings you are able to talk much more about how to help them with their emotional responses to bad experiences.

Under what conditions might you, as a human service professional, use self-disclosure as a means of interacting with clients? Would it be appropriate or inappropriate in this specific situation? Why or why not?

While at first glance self-disclosure may seem like a good idea to get a child to relate to you it must be handled carefully.  Children are highly impressionable so you don’t want to scare them or worse, influence their behavior with your own if it will reinforce a negative reaction.  Normalizing reactions to stimulus is okay as long as you are sure to reinforce that that reaction is unnecessary and there are better ways to handle it.  Children also can remember more than we give them credit for and can repeat things said to them in other situations, sometimes out of context.  For this reason, while using self-disclosure can be appropriate, a health professional must be sure to handle the use of it in a delicate and professional manner to avoid misunderstandings from both the child and the child’s parents.

References

Changing Minds. (2002). Attachment theory. Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/attachment.htm

DeVito, J.A. (2016). The interpersonal communication book (14th ed.). Retrieved from https://content.ashford.eduLinks to an external site.

Joseph, G. E., Strain, P., Yates, T., & Hemmeter, M. L. (2006). Social emotional teaching strategies. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.