To prepare:
• Review the Learning Resources on intake and engagement with couples and families.
• Conduct a close reading of the “First Session Vignette” with Mark and Sarah and the accompanying analysis located on pages 33–40 of your Williams (2012) (I can’t find the book online. However, I put an example paper from another student that wrote about the couple in files so you can get an idea) reading.
• Access the interactive media and review the case. Consider the strategies that a clinical social worker could use to engage a reluctant couple in an intake session.
Post:
Describe how you would begin building rapport with each member of the case study couple.
Describe how you would explain the benefits of therapy to the case study couple.
Explain how you would work to engage partners expressing low confidence or low interest in couples therapy.
SOURCES TO USE:
• Williams, M. (2012). Couples counseling: A step-by-step guide for therapists. Viale Publishing.
o Chapter 2, “1st Session: Intake” (pp. 25–42)
• Anderson, S. R., Tambling, R., Yorgason, J. B., & Rackham, E. (2019). The mediating role of the therapeutic alliance in understanding early discontinuanceLinks to an external site.. Psychotherapy Research: Journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, 29(7), 882–893. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2018.1506949
• Szapocznik, J., & Hervis, O. E. (2020). Brief strategic family therapy. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000169-000
o Chapter 2, “Joining: Preparing the Terrain” (pp. 35–49)Links to an external site.
Walden University, LLC. (2024). SOCW 6456 case study week 4: Communication part 1Links to an external site. [Interactive media]. Walden University Canvas. https://waldenu.instructure.com
• Transcriipt: SOCW 6456 case study week 4: Communication part 1 (PDF)
