ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the process of helping. Most of us are most familiar with this process through being helped. There are obvious differences between these kinds of help, and if we are fortunate we may have a wide circle of people from whom we can get each kind as we need it. There are undoubtedly counterparts to all these different varieties of help which can be made available to people in trouble. The first and most important aspect of this helpful attention is the quality of listening. Good listening is the beginning of any helping process, and an important part of its continuation. The chapter looks at some general problems of professional helping, and then at some specific problems arising from the settings in which social work is practised. There are aspects of the role of the professional social worker, especially in statutory agencies, which reinforce workers’ tendencies towards naive helpfulness.
