AU Role Play Script for Social Worker Discussion
In the role-play for this workshop, as the social worker, you want to build on your engagement skills, using concepts from the relational model to do so. You will also need to implement an evidence-based intervention during your role play that you have selected based on the client’s assessment and his treatment plan. This may need to be abbreviated since the role play will be shorter than an actual session; however, do your best to demonstrate the evidence-based intervention (one suggestion is to perhaps only address one or two components of the intervention during the role play), and address the other components noted in the instructions.
1. I have attached my previous ROLE PLAYS with this client and you will feed off those role plays
2. please make sure you refer to the case study below
3. please make sure that you use concepts from the relational model to assist this client
4. The role play is between the social worker and the client.
5. The role play needs to be 2 pages long
6. You should start the role play off with explaining that the session will be confidential and go over the social worker policies about confidentiality
CASE STUDY:
Shondra is a 21-year-old, African American business major at a large university. Over the past few weeks her family and friends have noticed increasingly bizarre behaviors. On many occasions they’ve overheard her whispering in an agitated voice, even though there is no one nearby. Lately, she has complained of heart palpitations, profuse sweating, insomnia, and has angry outbursts. She has stopped attending classes altogether. She is now so far behind in her coursework that she will fail if something doesn’t change very soon. She lives at home and her parents have brought her for counseling.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS THAT SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE ROLE PLAY:
- Before the role play, consider the following:How will you demonstrate your engagement and other therapeutic skills utilizing relational therapy?What is an evidence-based intervention that you plan to apply to help the client meet his or her goals and objectives, and how will you demonstrate that in the role play?How will you handle disruptions, transference, and countertransference?
- As the social worker in the role play, be sure that the following are covered during the role play:Demonstrate the use of relational therapy (or other best practice) in engaging with the client.Apply advanced clinical skills in the multidimensional intervention of psychosocial dysfunction or impairment, including emotional, mental, and behavioral disorders, conditions, and addictions.Demonstrate components of an evidence-based intervention.End the session by asking the client how he or she feels about the intervention and his progress with the goals and objectives you outlined in the previous session. You also need to mention that treatment will be ending soon, and start planning for termination.
Running head: SCRIPT WRITING
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Me: Hello, Shondrah!!! How are you? I hope you look forward to our session today. I want to
assure you that everything we discuss in this session is confidential and stay within this room. You
can speak freely in knowing that I am here to help you in the best way I can and keep your session
secure and confidential.
Shondrah: I am okay, I just have not been feeling like myself for a while now. I am still having
heart palpitations, sweating, and trouble sleeping here and there.
Me: Thank you for sharing that information with me. So, I just want to take the time to go over a
few assessment questions with you to get a better understanding of what you are experiencing.
1. When do you notice you sweat the most?
2. How often are you experiencing heart palpitations throughout the day? Do you notice you
experience them more when stressed?
3. How many nights out of the week do you have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep?
4. Are you still finding yourself whispering in agitation?
Shondrah: I cannot really say when I sweat the most, but I notice it once my hands get really
clammy. The heart palpitations happen maybe 3 times a day, and now that you mention it, I think
it does happen when I am nervous or anxious about school or work. As for falling asleep, I am
having issues every night falling asleep. Once I am asleep, I can stay asleep. Honestly, I have never
noticed myself whispering, but my parents say that I still do it here and there.
Me: Shondrah, I would like to discuss your religious and cultural background and implement a
spiritual assessment. I truly feel that implementing some of your spiritual ideologies cold help in
improving your overall day to day life.
Shondrah: Ok, I am open to discussing my religious beliefs further.
SCRIPT WRITING
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Me: I know you mentioned that you and your family are Hersey of the Free Spirit. My
understanding is that you all do not believe in one particular God, but that you believe in spiritual
connections with others and yourself. I would like to implement a regimen of yoga twice a week
to begin with to help with your stress and anxiety.
Shondrah: Yoga, wow, I never though about trying that. How do you think it can help?
Me: In assessing your triggers, once of which being school, I think that Yoga will allow you the
opportunity to reset your mind, body, and spirit. You will be able to focus on you and what you
need emotionally to get through your day or the rest of the week. In addition to Yoga, eating a
healthier diet can also alleviate some of the triggers that you have been experiencing. How would
you like to try this new regimen of therapy?
Shondrah: I am completely open to anything at this point. I like the idea of being able to reset my
mind during a stressful week.
Me: I will make a referral to the Yoga therapy studio near you, and I would like you start next
week, for two weeks. We will meet back after two weeks, and I will monitor your progress during
each session.
Shondrah: Ok thank you, I will follow these instructions and start the yoga regimen. I really hope
this helps with my overall mental health.
Me: Before we wrap up, I would like to ask how you have been enjoying our sessions together.
Shondrah: At first, I was not happy to come at all, I thought it would be a waste of time. However,
I am optimistic now on starting your new assessment tools and recommendations to better myself.
Me: I am so happy to hear this and I so look forward to our next session.
SCRIPT WRITING
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References
Eible, L. (2015). Social Work Supervision Through a Relational-Cultural Theoretical Lens.
Social policy and practice.
J, H. (2014). Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual Assessment? Teaching the Skill of Spiritual
Assessment. Social Work & Christianity, 41(4).
SCRIPT WRITING
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1
A Social Worker and Client Script
Student’s Name
University
Course
Professor
Date
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A Social Worker and Client Script
Social Worker: Hi Shondrah, how are you?
Shondrah: I am fine, thank You.
Social Worker: I was invited by your parents here, because I have been working with your
family as a counsellor before and they needed us to talk so that you can let how your fairing
with life, and if there is any challenge you have that you feel we can talk about, then I can
help you figure out.
Shondrah: Thanks for coming, I am doing just fine, with a little challenges and but I have
been trying to manage though it’s not easy for me, especially now that I do not have anybody
to share with.
Socila Worker: That’s good, just to make it clear, we are going to have a therapy session,
please let me know what you feel we can discuss and what you think we need to talk about,
and what you feel we need to achieve at the end of the session.
Shondrah: okay, I am currently handling African American business major at a large
university, and I am 21 years old. I am currently feeling stressed up, I sweat more times than
normal, I find myself arguing with my family members more and have not been able to
concentrate on classwork of late and am already afraid that I might fail in my exams.
Social Worker: I am glad you are opening up, and apart from the session we are having
today, we shall use an email, phone calls and video chats so that we can ensure consistency in
our communication.
Shondrah: Sometimes I feel like my parents overreact on my situations, and having high
expectations from me, please let me know how this therapy is helpful to me.
Social Worker: I know you may not fully understand the need for the session, the main goal
of our therapy session is to promote your emotional wellbeing, through having me as a person
you can speak to anytime you feel you need to.
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Shondrah: I understand, and how sure am I that, the personal conversation we shall be
having are not getting to my parents and any other person, I do not like sharing because I am
afraid of negative perceptions from people.
Social Worker: I value confidentiality, I ensure that no I do not share any information with
anybody, and all my devices have passwords that no one can access the information, I would
also need you to do the same with your devices. The other technology we shall use is video
conferencing as this ensures that our conversations are real times and no one can access
information in future.
Shondrah: Okay, that sounds safe now.
Social Worker: We shall also need to perform clinical measurements, to help us collect basic
data to help increase the efficiency of our therapy. Please let me know if you have any
questions with you I can help.
Shondrah: Right now I do not have any question, I just feel tired and would, like to go have
some rest if you allow me.
Social Worker: There is no problem, just go have some rest, I will contact you via email, I
will have to ask you some question for me to have enough data for evaluations. We shall use
an online assessment which is the (cross cutting system measure) so that we can assess your
mental condition before beginning the session. Bye, go have some good rest and we shall talk
later. Thanks for being polite and friendly too Shondrah.
Hi, Brian. It’s good to see you again. >> Ged. >> Ged. So last time we spoke I had referred you to a couple of different groups, both in anger management group in your area and in a group where you able to attend those this week? >> Yeah. >> She was able to 101. I went to one of each and you gotta be a group. And also some of the same issues. Yeah, it’s really hard for me to relate. And if I need to find another one, I mean, I guess it went okay. Went around and shared a little bit a little bit about why other people are drinking. And some other people also have a little anger in there as well when they’re talking. So I feel like it’s normalized little site. And I think that that meeting did how it helped me a little bit. I mean, I might go back. Was that once a week right into it. >> There isn’t things you liked about the group and some things you didn’t like about the group, but it’s worth another another visit. >> Yeah, I guess I could say that that’s accurate. >> I my experiences were a little better than last time, so I would say yes. Maybe something that i maybe try again next week. >> Okay. Tell me about the anger. >> Does a female running it? >> I don’t really necessarily like that. I guess I don’t feel like she’s relating to most of the guys that are in them. And that’s my opinion. That’s the way I feel about it. But I mean, the anger management, I mean, there was some learn a little bit about anger and where it comes from and what might be causing it and what it leads to. A lot of ways, a lot of the stuff led to some of my issues as well. The content was pretty good. But as far as the facilitator, and I don’t know. And this is showing the females the perfect space, perfect group for mostly men and the group. >> So though you felt like you learned a lot from the group, but you were not happy with it being a female Facilitator, especially since a lot of the members are males. >> Yeah, I would say that that’s accurate than I did get a lot out of it. I think about a POJO, everyone DAG and male, male. And there’s something yeah. >> So I know that when we started working together a couple weeks ago, you were excited about me being a female either that we’ve been able to begin our work and make some progress. Do you think you’re willing to give that group and other yeah, I can give it a week at least. >> Sewer happens. He said there was some good group content was good. But maybe I just need to try to get past this gender thing. I don’t know, we’ll give it another week for both groups. >> Definitely, you know, most programs like that. >> Do you have a client satisfaction survey at the end? That might be something that you waste your concerns on when it gets to that point. And maybe make a suggestion that they seek out more male facilitators. >> That’s a good point. Yeah, I could I didn’t know that, but I think that if we start by filling that out. >> So again, last time we met, we created a plan going forward with some of your goals. I wanted to just kind of review those with you today. The first goal was to reduce anger by 50%. And we’re kinda working on three month timeline. We talked about developing a few healthy Strategies for Managing your anger. And we mentioned that you would attend the weekly anger management group, which you’ve done already. The second goal is to win that alcohol use two weekends only within three months, and you are going to attend weekly AAA groups. And also work on reducing work-related stress by reducing your overtime by 50%. Tell me about how things have been going with developing healthy strategies for your anger. What have you been able to to work on this week? >> While my son’s been asking me to go bike riding and keep putting them off rank-sum fishing, hanging out with friends. But I was able to go bike riding twice this week. So that was good. I definitely felt pretty good After I felt like my endorphins were really kicking in there and I had good for a little while after that. >> So that was good. >> Try to eat a little bit better diet. You know, not so much, maybe feel a little bit better. But at night I was still not I’m still not even very good. >> So what else was there? >> I felt like my line goes a little bit better. I was getting angry as much as many times. I wasn’t being home a little bit more time with the friends, was helping with the spouse and not arguing as much from that was helpful was the other part of the goals. >> So again, we talked about some of the strategies that you’ve worked on this week. You increase your exercise and also you couple that with spending time with your sign, which I think is a really good position, you’re approaching some healthier eating habits, thinking about that. And then you’ve also just that more quality time with the family, which is then worm-like produced just less, less arguing unless discord at home as well then this guy. >> Yeah, I’ve felt that way and I have been home a little bit more as well. I did have a couple of beers on Thursday. That’s not technically the weekend, and I drank on Saturday and Sunday, but I definitely and drink on the other days. >> I usually do friends. >> So I did cheat a little on Thursday, couple of years, and then Saturday, Sunday. So definitely reduced my alcohol intake for this week anyway. So craving. But I was able to reduce it a little bit. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Good. And have you had a chance to talk to your boss about reducing over time? >> That I have not I have not touched on that yet. So they’re still getting that overtime, but I feel like I’m working on some other stuff. But right maybe next week I can do that. >> So you you develop some strategies and he made some progress for sure. Tell me about the anger overall, how they continued to be anger outbursts at home. What does that look like for you? >> Felt like was more continuous? I feel like it’s a lot less again, with being home and met a lot of the arguments, a lot of them withdrawing from the drinking all the time. I feel like it settled down quite a bit with the, with younger, maybe at least 25% better this week. Those barriers, I think it’s because I’m spending more time at home with family and drinking less. >> So I think that that’s the way it’s working. >> So definitely less if you’re out bar. Sorry. >> Okay. Yeah. So I was interested in and flooding and idea by you as a way to kind of keep track of the anger outbursts. I’ve got a log that I’m going to send to you, would you be open? So kind of keeping track of that log and monitoring when those outbursts happening. >> What they look like for you, is it law is a log and do it online or something or is it now? >> You can print it out. I can send it to you electronically and then you can print it out and keep track of it that way. >> Yeah, I much prefer Hard hard copy as opposed Some people like stuff online, but I think I would prefer our copy. I’ll take a look at. >> Yeah, definitely also to you and then you can kind of look over it and see about, you know, just keeping track of those outbursts. And then we can review that again in a few weeks. >> How’s that sound? >> Will be, Greg. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you, Brian. >> All right. >> See you next week.NON-RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION
SWK-655: ADVANCED INTERPERSONAL PRACTICE
Video Transcript:
A Clinical Social Work Intervention
Speaker 1:
Marisa, you worked with a client, one who was new to you, but had suffered from
a delusion for a long time. You helped her overcome the delusion, and it changed
her life. How did you begin the intervention?
Marisa:
Actually, it was my supervisor who encouraged me to find out why this client was
so willing to work with an intern, yet another intern. The situation was such that I
would be meeting with her every other week, and she would be meeting with her
regular therapist on alternating weeks. She was fine with that arrangement. In
fact, she’d seen several interns over the course of many years. She had been with
the agency for nine years. I was told only that she had a very strong delusion and
would come in and talk about this delusion, and maybe with someone new, I
could redirect her.
It was my supervisor who said, “Well, I wonder why she wants to talk to so many
people so openly. I wonder if there’s some kind of narcissism or something
there.” We discussed exploring possibilities that weren’t there, and that was really
helpful. Being encouraged to think outside the box, to really look at what was in
front of me and not just a chart and to accept it. When I met this woman, I didn’t
see any narcissism at all, but I didn’t know what I was seeing. I was hearing the
same story again and again and again. I did not try to redirect her as others had. I
listened.
Speaker 1:
Your client trusted you, and this permitted her to tell you crucial things that she
had withheld form others. Trust is based on what is called a therapeutic alliance.
How important do you think that is?
Marisa:
It’s everything. It’s everything I think. It’s the therapeutic alliance that facilitates
change. With this client, in particular, if she hadn’t trusted me, she never would
have disclosed what she disclosed to me. It was a simple exercise in a social work
genogram, but there was no reason for her to get into other stories involving her
childhood experiences outside of the actual family members we were mapping.
She did have that trust, and she was able to talk about some things that she never
talked about before. I listed. I didn’t redirect her when she talked about her
delusion. I listened.
Speaker 1:
After the assessment, you made a diagnosis of schizoaffective disorder. You then
found a theory to guide the intervention, and you prepared a treatment plan.
NON-RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION
Marisa:
I can’t go forward with a client unless I know what they want or what they think
they want at that particular point to accomplish. Even with this client, even
though her treatment plan was written by another therapist, she and I were able
to draft our own plan for our sessions, and she was able to tell me what she
wanted from therapy, and that was to talk about this delusion that she couldn’t
talk about anywhere else because talking about it helped her, so having that
opportunity to disclose the facts is what it seemed. It seems to be me it’s
impossible to be navigating any kind of treatment without knowing where the
client wants to go, how I can best help them achieve what they want to achieve. It
has to be where they are and how they see themselves in terms of where they are
and where they want to be.
Speaker 1:
Together, you pursued the intervention. She was disclosing her secrets and you
were looking for a breakthrough. How’d it go?
Marisa:
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t sure where this intervention would be going, and
I did a lot of checking in with my supervisor because of that, because I was going
to psychodynamic theory, and I understood from my research that that could be
tricky working with a schizoaffective client. I knew enough to know to be very
careful and just as a basic social work ethic not to do something I’m not
experienced in without guidance and so forth, so I was very careful about that.
Her goal, again, was to be able to have this opportunity to talk about what she
needed to talk about. I was fine with that, and I let her talk about that, but we did
wrap up the sessions and did discuss why it was helpful for her and referred to
the themes in her life of having been victimized by various people and not being
believed and not being able to talk about it and how being able to share that she
was a victim was helpful, and she had suffered injustice.
It turned out that, or it seems, there is no way it can be absolutely sure this is
what was happening, but the connection seems very clear that the language she
was using in describing her delusion was the exact language she used when she
described an event of sexual abuse that occurred in childhood. She had not
previously disclosed that. I couldn’t find any evidence of it in her chart or in
talking to other clinicians. There was the exact language. She was very powerful
and the delusion seemed to lessen its grip on her as we progressed in therapy.
