Contracting skills

This assignment is intended to help you establish a pattern of engaging in preparatory empathy and contracting with clients as you prepare to meet each new client for the first time. This assignment applies Shulman’s concepts of preparatory empathy, tuning in, and contracting, as described in the Skills of Helping (Shulman, 2018) in Chapter 2 and 3 and course materials in Modules 1-3 in Brightspace. This is the template for this assignment. You may choose to utilize the additional, external video content presented in each module. Please remember to cite appropriately when necessary and include a reference list. APA format is required. 

• Define and discuss your understanding of Shulman’s skill of preparatory empathy within the context of the interactional approach's preliminary phase (the first of 4 phases).
• Tune in to yourself as a social work intern; discuss your self-awareness related to your emotions and your positions of power and privilege as you prepare to work with this client.
• Select a client from your internship or social work-related job to be the focus of this analysis. Change the client's name to protect their confidentiality.  Describe and analyze your process of “preparatory empathy” or “tuning in” to this client before meeting them for the first time, including a discussion of Shulman’s three “levels” of tuning (if you have not started meeting with clients, please answer a and b based on the client population your agency serves)
  • The general type of client population—tuning into broad issues of the general client population the client represents (e.g., women, older adults, adolescents, etc.).
  • The specific client—tuning in to the specific issues, strengths, concerns, presenting problems, and potential emotions of the particular client.
  • The specific phase of the helping process—tuning into the unique dynamics related to [in this instance] the beginning phase (middle, ending) of the helping relationship describing potential issues related to [in this instance] beginnings and the “authority theme.”
• Discuss your understanding of the beginning phase of the helping process within the interactional approach, mainly Shulman’s concept of “contracting,” which is focused on defining and describing the skills of “clarifying the worker’s purpose and role” and “reaching for the client’s feedback” and the theoretical construct of “handles for work.”