ABSTRACT
The starting point for all social work practice is to be able to engage with people and genuinely hear what they are saying. This demands an ability to communicate both verbally and non-verbally and a capacity to build relationships, or to have what Neil Thompson calls ‘people skills’. Of course, communication is never divorced from the setting and context within which it takes place. This means that a home visit to someone who has asked for social work help is likely to be very different in tone and substance to a meeting in an office with someone who is an ‘involuntary client’ (Trotter 1999). There may also be differences according to culture and ethnicity (Dominelli 2008; Graham 2001; Robinson 2007). In spite of this, there are basic guidelines which may be helpful whatever the setting or context, and Gerard Egan’s book, The Skilled Helper, now in its ninth edition, is as good an introduction to the subject as any, and one which is widely used by a range of social work authors; readers are encouraged to get hold of the book, not just this heavily edited extract. Egan is Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Organizational Studies at Loyola University of Chicago.
From The Skilled Helper: A Problem-Management and Opportunity-Development Approach to Helping, 9th edition, Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole (2010): 131–50.
