Chapter Four: Getting Started: How to Pay Attention to What the Client Wants
When you first meet the Client:
1. When meeting a client for the first time, it is important to ask them client how they want to be ___________.
2. The authors suggest that is also a good idea to ask clients how they spend most of their ___________ time; this may be useful in starting to uncover useful solution building information.
3. When an interview takes place in a home, it may be helpful to start off by noticing something nice or attractive or something in which the client has put a lot of ___________; this type of question may demonstrate ___________ for the client and put the client in the role of ___________, while also uncovering strengths and interests.
Clarifying how you Work:
4. Before going too deeply into the client’s concerns, it is helpful to clarify how the meeting will be ___________ and whether this organization is acceptable to the client
Problem Description
5. Remember that to work within the client’s frame of reference, we must assume a posture of ___________.
6. You must affirm the client’s ___________, taking note of the ___________ the client uses.
7. Client perceptions are ___________ and __________; sometimes helping them put their perceptions into words can result in a shift in ___________.
8. Clients often seek help with problems or concerns that are poorly ___________; it is helpful for both client and interviewer for the interviewer to clarify concerns.
What has the client tried?
9. It is helpful to ask the client what they have tried so far to solve their problems; this communicates to the client that you think they are ___________ and may provide you with some strengths and ___________ on which to build.
What is most important for the client to work on first?
10. Clients may come in with an overwhelming number of concerns; it is helpful to make this seem more manageable by acknowledging how difficult things are then asking them to identify what is the most important area for them to address first. It is then helpful to follow up with a question about what makes that area the most important to work on ___________; this will help you see the client’s perspective and also respects client ______________________.
How to Work with Clients on What They Might Want
11. Problem talk repeatedly circles back to the problem ___________ and the fallout from these problems
12. Solution talk focuses on what the client would want to have ___________ in their life.
13. Client need to have enough time for problem talk to feel they are being ___________. You can often shift into solution talk 10 or 15 minutes into the interview.
When clients want something and see themselves as part of the solution
14. In this type of relationship, a problem and or solution picture towards which to work are ___________ identified by the client and practitioner.
15. This type of relationship is most commonly associated with clients who come in for services ___________ and recognize that getting help will require effort on their part.
16. It is important not to label a client as ___________ or uncooperative or in other ways based on whether they are voluntary or other initial factors; relationships change through out and___________usually result in judgment.
When client says someone else needs to change
17. This is the relationship that develops when the client and interviewer are able to jointly identify a complaint or problem but have difficulty in identifying a ___________ for the client in building a solution; the client often does not perceive themselves as a part of the ___________, rather believing that the solution is for someone else to ___________.
18. In this type of relationship, the client will often want the counselor to meet with the other person, to ___________him or her.
19. This may also be a situation in which the client simply wants the interviewer to ___________.
20. The author’s suggest that the client does not need to be coerced into ___________ ___________for their own life; rather the skills in chapter three can help the client to shift their ___________ from problem talk to solution talk.
21. In the brief discussion between Insoo and Alice, Insoo does not challenge Alice’s perceptions; instead she keeps gearing the conversation to what could or might be ___________ and thus helping the later formation of well defined goals.
When clients seem uninterested or seem resistant to change
22. In this relationship, the client and interviewer cannot jointly identify a ___________ or goal on which to work.
23. In the case of Beth, the professionals involved believed that the attempts to assist Beth failed because of Beth’s lack of ___________; Insoo followed the solution focused method and instead of expecting a lack of cooperation, she approached Beth with a posture of ___________. Insoo did not question Beth’s perceptions but she did respectfully ask for clarification of them and through this both gained more information than previous workers and she was able to engage in a relationship with Beth.
24. A solution focused practitioner is genuinely ___________ about the clients’ perceptions about themselves.
25. Many clients who are forced into treatment by others (___________ who may have a different agenda) may come into the interview expecting the interviewer to listen more closely to the outside sources than to the client. The natural response to coercion is ___________ and ___________
What if Clients Want What is Not Good for Them?
26. If a client wants something that you do not think is good for them, you assume the client is ___________ and continue to ask the client to ___________ his or her perceptions.
27. This may also be an opportunity to ask ___________ questions.
What if Clients Do Not Want Anything at All?
28. If the relationship remains one in which the client does not seem to want anything, this will influence the type of ___________ you give the client (to be addressed in later chapters).
Influencing Client Cooperation and Motivation
29. Notions of resistance on the part of the client come from the ___________ model.
30. In the solution building model, resistance is seen as ___________ as the client is telling the interviewer that the tasks the interviewer has suggested do not fit their way of doing things.
31. Solution building assumes the client is ___________ and can figure out what they want and how to go about getting it.
True or False
1.The authors state that asking clients about how they spend most of their work-day time is a useful way in which to uncover what is important to clients and some of their strengths.
2.In solution-focused interviewing, practitioners often take a break after interviewing the client about their concerns, goals, and strengths in order to think about what the client has said and to formulate some end-of-session feedback for the client before ending the interview.
3. Working within the client's frame of reference means asking for, listening to, and affirming the client's perceptions, all the while taking note of the words which the client uses to capture her perceptions.
4.Part of the rationale for asking clients about what they have already tried to solve their problems is to send them the message that the interviewer believes that they are competent to make good things happen in their lives.
5.When clients state that the significant others in their lives are causing their problems and, therefore, there is little that they can do to solve them, De Jong and Berg suggest that it is useful for practitioners to challenge such a point of view as self defeating because it leaves clients’ situations unchanged.
6.In the case of Beth, it was helpful for the social worker to point out the facts of the case from the police and hospital reports.
7. De Jong and Berg believe that an interviewer can both take a not-knowing stance with clients and, at the same time, hold them accountable for their perceptions.
8. In solution-focused interviewing, practitioners try to maintain a “not knowing” stance except in cases where clients say they want something which practitioners strongly believe is not good for them.
9.Steve de Shazer argues that what practitioners in the past have interpreted to be client resistance is more accurately understood as worker resistance to solving problems in ways which fit clients’ normal ways of doing things.
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following is not addressed in the “getting started” phase of solution-focused work?
a. Client’s understanding of how the problem affects the client
b. What the client has tried so far to solve the problem
c. Exceptions related to the client’s miracle picture
d. What is most important to work on first
2. In order to have a cooperative, working relationship with a client in solution-focused work, which must be present?
a. Client must want something
b. Exceptions
c. Client must see himself or herself as part of any solution
d. Client must have tried something already to solve the problem
3. In the case of Beth in the text, when she was first talking to the social worker, she could best be described as a client who:
a. wanted something and saw herself as part of a solution.
b. blamed herself as the source of her problems.
c. seemed resistant to changing.
d. blamed the social worker as the source of her problems.
4. In the case of Beth in the text, when she finished working with Insoo, she could best be described as a client who:
a. wanted something and saw herself as part of a solution.
b. blamed herself as the source of her problems.
c. seemed resistant to changing.
d. blamed the social worker as the source of her problems.
5. In the case of Beth, Insoo and Beth moved toward a cooperative working relationship by focusing primarily on:
a. the nature of Beth's problems with her parents.
b. *defining what Beth wanted to be different.
c. the errors in the police and hospital reports.
d. Beth's feelings.