ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on two time periods, namely—the pre-contact and contact phases of treatment. It suggests that an individual's interactions with friends and relatives—in addition to affecting the likelihood of his seeking professional help—will condition his later responses to treatment. Clients who questioned the discretion of friends were buoyed up by the confidentiality of the casework situation. Clients who sought help of a similar kind but were satisfied encountered workers who employed a different treatment approach. Clients in search of material, rather than interpersonal, help were a good deal more resistant about coming to the agency. More specifically, the cognitive gap between worker and client will assuredly be less vast in certain instances, and when this is the case the worker may well have more success in his resocializing efforts. At least several clients suspected that the worker's continuing exploration of their personal lives ultimately comprised efforts to 'catch them out'.
