Relationship Skills in Social Work by Roger Hennessey

Author:Roger Hennessey [Hennessey, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Social Work
ISBN: 9781848601567
Google: kiC6BKyj-HcC
Publisher: SAGE Publications
Published: 2011-03-04T05:16:57+00:00

EMOTIONS, OUTCOMES, AND THE WORKER’S TASK OF ‘HOLDING’ THE SITUATION

This case study in the use of emotional intelligence (like that of Polly and her father) describes a situation where emotions appear to have determined the outcome. What a client feels in a situation such as this is likely to override all rational analysis. Of course, this is not to say that rational analysis has no place, but it is to say that it should be kept in its place, which is usually after strong emotions have been expressed and a degree of catharsis has been facilitated.

Metaphorically speaking, emotions can fly all over the place. They can be acted out in shouting, erratic and unpredictable behaviours, but unless these are extreme or dangerous they are to be held within the social worker/client relationship. This is the space within which things can be said and felt, yet contained – and such saying and feeling will usually and eventually evolve into a situation where things can be thought through. Reason follows on from emotion if (and sometimes only if) the worker–client relationship is there as a facilitative and holding environment.

This kind of social work is mirroring the relationship between carer and child that was explored in Chapter 3. There it was seen that the formation of the child was critically altered by the kind of relationships he or she experienced with the care-giving adults. Good carers hold their child’s emotions, helping them to manage them and feel safe while experiencing them. Carers who are not so good at their task may be unable to provide such holding. Whatever experiences a child has had, or not had, in terms of being held emotionally, are likely to be transferred into some situations in adult life. For example, a child who sought comfort and attention in infancy, but met with rebuttal, may transfer the feeling of ‘rejection’ in childhood on to help-seeking situations in adulthood. While it is too simplistic to say that the situations of childhood and adulthood will feel identical, it is nevertheless likely that they will resonate in some way – probably unconsciously – within the person’s emotional mind. For we carry hurts within us and early rejections may lead to the expectation of rejections in later life. And such expectations may lead to defensive and, possibly, aggressive behaviours. In order to engage creatively and meaningfully with such behaviours the social worker needs her emotional intelligence – her enhanced ability to perceive, facilitate, understand and manage her behavioural repertoire and the effects that her clients’ emotional and physical behaviours have upon her.

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