Meeting-The-Challenge-Making-a-Difference-Practitioner-Guide

An overly supportive relationship (doing a lot for the service
user) undermines autonomy, does not help to develop
personal agency and risks encouraging dependence. It may
also invite an overly strong attachment to the worker, leading
to very intense emotions which get in the way of the primary
task. An overly demanding relationship, on the other hand, is
likely to lead to hostility or disengagement because the
service user feels that the worker does not understand how
hard it is for them to do what is being expected. So we need to
occupy the middle ground between these two extremes.
Another way of thinking about this is in terms of
professional boundaries. We want to establish a
relationship that is warm, friendly, compassionate and nonjudgmental.
At the same time, the relationship has a
purpose and a time-frame, which is the achievement of the
primary task within a defined period of time.
MIGHT HELP TO FOSTER
‘PERSONAL AGENCY’
• What help do you need
to do this yourself?
MIGHT INTERFERE WITH THE
DEVELOPMENT OF THE SERVICE
USER’S PERSONAL AGENCY
• Leave it with me – I’ll sort
it out for you.
“I was in the preparation
group for about a year,
but it probably took at
least six months of
overdosing, self abuse,
neglect and some major
tantrums at staff before
I was able to see that
my care and more
importantly my recovery
is MY responsibility and
it’s not up to the staff
or my family to make
everything better, only
I can. I’m sure it was at
that point that I was
then able to start to take
control of my recovery
and move forward.”
• At what point do you get
stuck filling in this form? So
why don’t you do it up to
that point and then I can
help you think what to put
for that question.
• I don’t know any more about
this than you. Is it worth
looking on the internet?
• I wonder whether you are
more capable than you think
you are. I remember when
you did X and you felt you’d
handled it very well.
• Is there something specific
about this situation that
makes you feel you won’t be
able to do it? Is there a way
round that?
• Is there someone you can
ask to do this for you?
• I was planning to take
leave that day but if you
really need me to go
with you I could always
cancel that.
• You may not feel like doing it
but sometimes you have to
make yourself do things you
don’t want to.
• You can’t go on expecting
other people to do that for
you – It’s time you did it
yourself.
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