The Skill of Nonjudgement: Application and Reflection
Throughout this assignment, I will apply the social work practice of using a nonjudgmental stance in several situations. First, as a supervisor to a young professional, I will identify ethical issues in the situation, explain how I would approach her, and describe my suggestions for the social worker. Secondly, I will observe a video of a social worker working with a client in their first session and provide feedback on her demonstration of strengths and needs regarding social work skills. Lastly, I will demonstrate suggested corrections for the social worker through a video recording and reflect on my own skills and effectiveness in practicing from a nonjudgmental standpoint. The following paper is a demonstration of the cumulative skills I learned throughout the semester of SWGS 6305: Social Work Skills Lab.
Part 1
Ethical Issues
According to the National Association of Social Workers ([NASW], 2017, Ethical Principles section), ethical principles for social workers include service, dignity and worth of person, importance of human relationships, and integrity. In the prompt, the social worker indicated that her religious beliefs come before the client. Specifically, her response to hearing about clients who were a lesbian couple seeking information on gay marriage and support in starting a family was to say that her religion saw homosexuality as immoral. Her response showed that this professional failed to put the clients’ needs above her self-interest, which indicated that the professional lacked the ability to uphold the value of service.
Furthermore, there could potentially be an issue with upholding dignity and worth of person in this case. Specifically, if the social worker I am advising were to treat the clients as “sinful,” it would undermine the value by showing disrespect. Lastly, if the social worker’s religious view led to disrespect and lack of dignity and worth of the clients, then the relationship between the clients and social worker would likely deteriorate. It is a social worker’s duty to work alongside clients in a partnership, but that would become difficult if the social worker did not respect the clients.
Overall, the main ethical issue we face would be integrity. Based on the professional’s statement about her religious beliefs and anti-gay sentiment, the social worker has failed to consider several ethical principles. According to the NASW (2017, Ethical Principles section, para. 6), “Social workers are continually aware of the profession’s mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards and practice in a manner consistent with them.” The social worker did not exhibit such awareness. Furthermore, because our organization is not affiliated with a religion, it would be inappropriate for the social worker to use religious beliefs to excuse herself from working with a client.
Advice and Suggestions
I would be failing to uphold the principle of social justice if I did not address these issues. Refusing service based on a client’s sexual orientation would not be social justice. Rather, it would be oppressive and discriminatory (NASW, 2017, Ethical Principles section). Because of this, it would be my duty to approach the social worker directly with my concerns. I would then advise the social worker study and consider the NASW Code of Ethics before deciding to take or not take the clients. Specifically, I would urge her to consider how instituting her religious beliefs in professional practice may interfere with social work values.
Furthermore, I would entreat the professional to consider the “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT)” section of the NASW. There, she could read what the national professional stance on LGBT clients is and how she could better equip herself to work with clients who identify as LGBT through practice tools and professional development.
I would also like to further discuss the details of the case and appeal to the professional’s empathy. If the social worker can put aside her religious beliefs, she would be supporting two people getting married and assisting them in starting a family. Regardless of the clients’ sexual orientation, that is what the case is about. The case offers an ideal opportunity to support the beginnings of this family.
While religious beliefs alone are no reason not to take a client, if the social worker cannot put her beliefs aside to work respectfully with the client, I would suggest that I do not assign her the case. Regardless of if the professional decided she wanted to move forward with the case or not, I would assign her homework on overcoming heterosexism and encourage her to further explore self-awareness about her views on homosexuality. If she were open to it, I would have a discussion with her about homophobia. As a social worker and supervisor, it would be my duty to challenge heterosexist beliefs and attitudes.
Under the circumstances that the social worker was resistant to my suggestions and refused to put her attitude about homosexuality aside, I would suggest she reconsider her role as a social worker. It is a social worker’s duty to seek human rights for all, including the right to marriage, regardless of sexual orientation. Being unable to uphold these standards and being unwilling to work towards overcoming that would make this professional incompetent. As such, I would not feel comfortable allowing such a person to continue a career in social work at the agency.
Part 2
Beginning Critique
The video displayed a social worker and client meeting in session for the first time. Throughout their first session, the social worker did practice several skills with her client that were helpful. However, she also made mistakes and could benefit from corrections. The social worker displayed several strengths throughout this beginning session. For one, she reassured the client that the session was a safe space to talk. Additionally, the social worker noticed that the client was uncomfortable and asked a question about the client’s children that was emotionally and mentally easier to handle than the broad, open-ended question of why she was there. That was handled well, in my opinion.
Throughout the session the social worker displayed active listening, an important social worker skill. While the social worker did take notes, which took some attention away from the client, she attempted to maintain eye contact with the client. Additionally, the social worker was able to identify the client’s feelings, such as “You feel guilty.” Lastly, she normalized the client’s situation by reassuring the client that she was not the first person to come to the agency with spousal abuse concerns. While these are all important social work skills, they are end of beginning phase and middle phase skills (Cournoyer, 2017). It may have been poor judgement to employ some of these skills in a first session.
The social worker also displayed needs in certain social work skills. For one, she interrupted the client several times in order to ask questions. It would be better to wait until the client was finished talking before proceeding. Additionally, there was a point in which the social worker did not allow enough silence before moving forward with questions. While the client was visibly upset, sometimes it is more therapeutic to give them space and silence to process thoughts before continuing a conversation. Moreover, the social worker offered the client advice, but therapy should be used as a tool for guidance and support. It is important to keep advice to a minimum, as offering advice may handicap the client (Accelerated Resolution Therapy [ART], 2016).
Lastly, while the social worker worked toward future planning with the client, she suggested doing so in a judgmental way. Rather than asking the client how she felt about working towards a plan, the social worker indicated that planning was what she would do if she were in the client’s shoes. This made it difficult for the client to feel like she had a choice in whether they would proceed with a plan and may have been overwhelming for a first session. In other words, it disempowered the client.
Overall, the social worker seemed to struggle with the basic skills for beginning sessions. According to Cournoyer (2017), the first session should be spent introducing oneself, covering the basics of therapy, orienting the client to therapy, as well as discussing ethics and policies with the client, and getting feedback. The social worker in the video did not fulfill these and likely overwhelmed the client by engaging her without a preparatory conversation.
Confidentiality Critique
Social workers have a duty to maintain client confidentiality. Furthermore, it is vital that this form of privileged communication is explained in the first session with a new client. I felt that the social worker in the video did not successfully discuss confidentiality with her client. The social worker immediately engaged with the client, asking why she was there, without discussing confidentiality. The question of confidentiality had to be brought up by the client. While the social worker did briefly explain that confidentiality may be breached if the client expressed intent to harm herself or harm others, she neglected to explain that she was a mandated reporter for child abuse and failed to discuss a social worker’s duty to inform.
The social worker could have done better at explaining confidentiality by initiating the conversation and providing more details on the three required breaches of confidentiality. Lastly, the social worker had told the client that her supervisor would not know about what they discussed in their meetings. While the therapist might not initially intend to discuss details with others, she may come across a point in time when she seeks advice from colleagues or a supervisor about her clients. It is important to inform clients of information exchanged regarding their care (Cournoyer, 2017).
Critique of Nonjudgmental Approach
Judgements include describing things in terms of positive or negative words, what someone should or should not do, as well as describing things by comparing or contrasting them (Dobbs, 2013). Considering this, there were several places where the social worker did not practice from a nonjudgmental standpoint. For one, the social worker told the client she had come to the “right place.” While that was likely meant to be reassuring, the word “right” is a judgment and could have the opposite or unforeseen effects on the client. A nonjudgmental version of reassurance would be “Our agency can offer you support.”
Secondly, the social worker asked the client if she had a “good” relationship with her children. Not only is “good” a judgement, this question was also close-ended and leading. I would suggest reframing the question as “How is your relationship with your children?” to avoid judgmental words and to leave the question open-ended. As Cournoyer (2017) discussed, social workers carry moral clout as professionals. We must be careful of any moral judgements we may display during therapy, such as “good” and “right.”
A third instance of the social worker not practicing from a non-judgmental stance was when she said, “Don’t you think probably that has something to do with your son?” Unfortunately, there were several issues with this as a response to the client’s confirmation that her children had seen their father be violent towards their mother. For one, it could be interpreted as blaming the client, which would be disempowering and could cause distress. Furthermore, the question could have negative consequences for the client-social worker relationship. According to Biestek (n.d.), a nonjudgmental means not assigning guilt or blame. In this question, the social worker failed to be nonjudgmental.
Fourth, the social worker suggested, “And sometimes you have to just take off and do what’s right for you and your children.” This statement was not nonjudgmental in that it was the social worker’s opinion on how to deal with spousal abuse and not necessarily constructive for the client. Therapy is not about offering advice and in fact, advice can interfere with a client creating their own solutions (ART, 2016). Moreover, the social worker was making a judgement about how the client leaving her husband would be the “right” thing to do, which limited the client’s freedom to choose other options.
Lastly, the social worker made a point to say, “If I were in your shoes…” which not only pressured the client into doing what the therapist suggested, but it also added a judgement that the therapist thought she knew what was best and that the client had not lived up to the social worker’s expectations. It is important for social workers to be mindful of how their words can be perceived as criticism, as well as how criticism negatively affects others (Keller and Papasan, 2012). Overall, the social worker would benefit from practicing mindfulness about judgements during sessions so she can avoid them in the future and become better at practicing from a nonjudgmental stance.
Part 3
In accordance with social work ethics, I attempted to utilize a nonjudgmental stance during the beginning phase of the first meeting with a client. I followed Cournoyer’s (2017) guide and introduced myself and my credentials, discussed the purpose of therapy, and explained social work confidentiality protocols. While I was effective in covering most of the housekeeping that comes with a first session, there were some areas in which I could improve, and I struggled in some instances to avoid judgmental words.
One issue presented in the video of the social worker was that the professional did not take time to fully introduce herself. So, to start, I introduced myself as a social work intern and explained that my focus had been in families and individuals. This was meant to give the client information on my credentials and helped to break the ice. I proceeded to discuss whether the client had been in therapy before and what my role as her social worker could look like. While this was likely helpful in establishing roles and providing the client with information, I failed to explain the agency’s mission and resources it could offer the client. The client had to ask me for this information, which I had been unprepared to answer.
Secondly, the social worker in the video did not successfully engage in a conversation about confidentiality. Regardless of if the client had been in therapy before, it is important to explain confidentiality protocol and that there are three instances in which doctor-client confidentiality may be broken. Rather than simply telling the client what the three situations were, I attempted to empower the client by asking her what she thought they might be. In my experience, clients have guessed one or two of these on their own. However, the client had no guesses, so I proceeded to explain to her that confidentiality may be broken if the client intended to harm herself or someone else, as well as in the case of reported child abuse, past or present.
It is vital to make the most out of the first session, including establishing rapport and helping the client determine if this agency will benefit them. The social worker in the video did not completely fulfill this. While I did attempt to establish a partnership and build rapport with the client, there was potential for improvement. Part of a first session can include selling a pitch about one’s therapy model (Taibbi, 2013). Unfortunately, I did not explain my model of therapy because I do not have one. It will be important to consider this moving forward in my social work career.
As for using a nonjudgmental stance, I believe I was effective in this overall. However, I did notice a moment in which I used a judgmental word. In my attempt to reassure and normalize the client’s concerns over confidentiality, I told her that her worries were “fair.” Rather than using that adjective, I could have rephrased it as “I think that’s understandable.” Instead of making a judgement, I should identify my feelings. This carries less moral weight and can still help reassure the client. I found that it can be quite challenging to avoid what Rosenberg (1995) referred to as “jackal” language and to instead use “giraffe” language. The jackal language, or language of the head, can be difficult to unlearn, as I have experienced firsthand. However, an effective social worker should be well-versed in giraffe language, the language of empathy and understanding. I should continue building on my giraffe language skills.
After reviewing my own attempt as a social worker in the beginning phase of the first session with a client, I have found that while I have incorporated many skills into my practice, I can continue to improve on practicing from a nonjudgmental stance. Specifically, I can strengthen my skills by focusing on avoiding judgmental words. Overall, I believe I was effective in practicing from a nonjudgmental stance.
Throughout this assignment, I explored and applied the importance of practicing social work from a nonjudgmental stance in several situations. First, I acted as a supervisor to a young professional who expressed judgmental beliefs. I identified ethical issues in the situation, explained how I would approach the social worker, and described my suggestions for her. Secondly, I observed a video of a social worker working with a client for the first session and provided critical feedback on her demonstration of skills and needs. Lastly, I acted out some suggested corrections for the social worker in a video and reflected on my own skills and effectiveness in practicing from a nonjudgmental standpoint.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy. (2016). Why most therapists don’t give advice to their clients. Retrieved from https://acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com/therapists-dont-give-advice-clients/
Biestek, F. (n.d.) Seven principles of the social work relationship. Retrieved from http://cstl-hhs.semo.edu/stokes/sw110/Seven%20Principles%20of%20the%20Social%20Work%20Relationship.ppt
Dobbs, B. (2013). DBT skill of the day: Practicing a nonjudgmental stance. Retrieved from https://www.anythingtostopthepain.com/dbt-skill-of-the-day-practicing-a-nonjudgmental-stance/
Cournoyer, B. R. (2017). The social work skills workbook (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Keller, G. and Papasan, J. (2012). Mastering nonjudgmental communication. Retrieved from https://www.the1thing.com/blog/the-one-thing/mastering-nonjudgmental-communication/
National Association of Social Workers. (2017). NASW code of ethics. Retrieved from https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English
Rosenberg, M. B. (1995). Compassionate communication. Retrieved from http://www.nwcompass.org/compassionate_communication.html
Taibbi, R. (2013). Making first sessions count. Psychotherapy Network Symposium. www.SocialWork.Career
