In SOWK 301 and 302, I learned the value of giving clients the opportunity to provide input concerning their treatment goals and what they hope to gain from therapy. We watched several videos in which this was demonstrated. One question asked in several of these videos by the clinician to the client was “How can I best help you?”. This question gives the client a chance to tell the clinician their goals. Next, the clinician can tailor treatment to these goals. This is one of the questions I most often ask clients at my field placement, and then together we work to accomplish these common goals during group sessions. I had the chance to practice this skill during my internship. One of the curriculum points I developed was a worksheet for clients to fill out. This sheet outlined, in simple terms, what clients hoped to gain from therapy/what their goals were, how they planned to achieve said goals, and how to get around any barriers. This was a fill-in-the-blank worksheet, which gave clients the …show more content…
I wrote an assessment of this person using the standard format outlined in class. This paper gave me the opportunity to learn how to use the standard assessment as it pertains to clients, as well as obtain valuable feedback I can use to improve and build on my assessment skills in the future. I learned just how much information needs to be included in an assessment, and that this information sometimes requires some critical thinking skills, especially pertaining to the client’s defense mechanisms. I had to look at the client’s present behaviors and the list of defense mechanisms outlined in my textbook, and then match up the behaviors of the client to the most logical item in the list of defense mechanisms. This exercise taught me how to apply these theoretical principles to real life