Discussion: Management of Planned and Unplanned Termination

Depending on the client and the length of treatment, saying goodbye can be hard for both of you.

While you generally anticipate that successful treatment will lead to the eventual termination of the client relationship, there are a variety of other reasons for why this relationship might come to an end.

There might be a set number of sessions the client's insurance will allow, or maybe the end of your internship is quickly approaching. Maybe termination results from the unexpected, like a new job or an illness, or the client leaves without notice.

Regardless of the cause, you and your client must be prepared for the end of your working relationship.

In this Discussion, you reflect on the termination process, the potential feelings associated with ending a client relationship, and skills to address challenges related to termination.

Explain how you might evaluate client progress and determine when a client is ready to terminate services.

Describe a situation when a professional relationship may end before the client achieves their goals.

Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling that you, as the social worker, might feel regarding a planned termination and an unplanned termination.

Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling a client might feel regarding both a planned and an unplanned termination of a therapeutic relationship.

Respond to at least two colleagues:

Provide a suggestion for dealing with the negative feelings that can occur with terminating client relationships.

Identify a social work skill and provide a specific example of how your colleague might use this skill to address challenges in termination.

Assignment: Evaluation of Skills: Client System Role-Play Reflection and Analysis Paper

After planning the script and videotaping the role-play scenario, how did it feel to walk in the shoes of a social worker? What insights did you gain from the experience?

What aspects of this experience were challenging for you? Being able to recognize the areas where you were successful and the areas where you need improvement are what make role-plays an important part of your social work education.

For the written segment of your Final Project, reflect on your experience in developing this role-play video.

Consider any insights you gained from the experience, as well as the challenges you might have experienced in its planning and execution.

Think about the specific social work techniques you used and why you used them. Finally, review the videos your colleagues posted. Select one of those videos and consider any areas in which your colleague might improve their approach and why.