Reflective Report - Skills Demonstration – Role Play Video

Social Worker Role Play Reflective Report

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Reflective Report – Assignment

Reflective Report - Skills Demonstration – Role Play Video

Introduction

This reflective report is aimed to describe how the role play video was conducted and the outcomes during and after the video. It will explain how the situation was dealt and how personal experiences were gained with this activity. During the Intensive course in Adelaide, students were required to conduct a 15 role play as a social worker meeting a client for the first time. Students were given assessment criteria for guidance on how the demonstration was expected. The role play required an appropriate introduction including overview of confidentiality, how to establish rapport with client, put client at ease/relaxed demeanour, appropriate use of non-verbal communication skills was also required, ability to paraphrase where appropriate, reflect feeling and use of questioning accordingly, and to avoid advice and being directive finalising the session appropriately. There were five different scenarios students had to choose one to work on.

Situation / Scenario

The scenario chosen that will be discussed on this reflective report is “Client in crisis/distress” a social worker for sexual assault counselling service. Social Worker is meeting a client, Sally (23) for the first time. After a period of time in the waiting room, Sally became distressed while completing forms and started to cry. Social Worker greeted her warmly then sat down and began to talk. Sally was holding onto a box of tissues and looking downward. The video required to demonstrate our knowledge of procedures when dealing with clients and address issues as per required. This report will reflect on the scenario chosen and discuss the outcomes during the time practising and making this video. My group was 4 people, on the first practice day we changed roles as we decided it would be better to have a feel from both situations to help us to understand more each point of view, we had one full day to role play as many times as we liked and decided to get feedback from others who were observing so we all could correct our mistakes and improve our role. The task was initially easy to understand as key points were obvious and clear such as sexual assault situation, young client, first time seeking counselling and client was distressed and crying. We used a meeting room which had a table, chairs and white board. We organised the room to show only chairs and a wall as background, we also used our own mobiles to record the video and after each video we would discuss and gather feedback from the other two who were watching us and helping with the video record.

Meeting

My role as a Social Worker I started very nervous, as in my head I was trying to work out how I was going to build a relationship with Sally who was already distressed and upset. My voice was trembling and I was a bit shaky. I was also worried about the length of the video which was required to be 15 minutes. This was a first time task for me to act as a social worker, and being a new student I felt very unprepared as I am not familiar with Social Work procedures. To begin with I had in mind to not forget to keep an eye contact, to explain about confidentiality and to listen carefully to what Sally had to say. When the role play started I greeted Sally, I made sure my body language was adequate and was mindful of my tone of voice, kept eye contact and calmly started to explain to Sally about the session, “whether in an involuntary client setting or a voluntary one, welcoming skills are used to ensure that “the welcome people receive is warm and respectful” (Trevithick 2005, p.150). Sally was crying and very upset so I offered Sally some tissues and water, I waited for Sally to calm down and advised Sally that if she wish to end the session she could do so at any time, I then started to introduce myself and explain to Sally about confidentiality, I wanted Sally to know that all we said here was to be kept between Sally and I but I have the duty of care and if she disclosed anything that might cause harm to her I would have to legally speak to my adviser or line manager and legally actions might be taken. “Social workers must inform clients before commencing interviews if the information obtained will be used for assessment or any other purpose and will be provided to third parties for legal or other reasons”. (AASW Code of Ethics [2010]). Sally was a little calmer but very quiet so I started to ask her if she would like to tell the reason why she was seeking help and what her expectations were and what she was hoping to gain from these sessions. Sally started to say what happened to her, that she was sexually assaulted by one of her leaders at work and she needed help as she was scared and feeling lost. I asked Sally to describe her work, if she enjoyed working there, if she had any good friends at work, I also asked Sally to tell me more about her life, hobbies and other interests. During our conversation I tried my best to show empathy and be sympathetic and assuring that together we aimed to support and help her as much as we could. Sally showed to be comfortable with me and started to talk more. We had a good interaction but I felt many times that I was talking more than Sally, giving her too much advices and jumping into early conclusions. The session was fairly quick and was more about building a relationship, making Sally feel comfortable and at the end Sally agreed to return.

Reflect

The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behaviour and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environment. Principles of human rights and social justice