Working with the Unmotivated Client (From Violence Hits Home: Comprehensive Treatment Approaches to Domestic Violence, P 115-125, 1990, Sandra M. Stith, Mary Beth Williams, et al., -- See NCJ-128537)

• NCJ Number: 128544
• Author(s): M L Jones
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Springer Publishing Co
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

A structure to help professionals assess and deal with unmotivated clients is presented. The professional who attempts to help abusive families is faced with a challenge -- how to help someone who not only does not want to be helped but may even see the intervention as a violation of individual and family rights.

Abstract

The client-helper relationship, so crucial in any therapy, is even more important with these clients. Relationship building with the involuntary client begins with a caring, yet clear, use of formal authority. The nonvoluntary client needs to be "won over" by the worker's demonstration that he or she has something that will be of use to the client. Through outreach efforts of advocacy, teaching, or supportive counseling, the nonvoluntary client frequently becomes motivated to make changes. In all interventions with unmotivated clients, professional social workers are particularly at risk for being drawn into games. A knowledge of problem boundaries and game theory may help workers to get out and stay out of this most destructive set of interactions. Allowing clients to take responsibility for their own problems allows them to take the credit for their later growth and change. At best, professionals are facilitators of change in others. Work with unmotivated clients requires special skills in relationship building, the creative use of authority, and the ability to respect individual differences. 5 references