What are the implications for utilizing empathy skills in problem-solving focused settings?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A social worker who has recently begun a formal professional educational program may be prone to speak with the vagueness and generality that characterize much of the communication of the lay public. When such vagueness occurs, clients and others may understandably misinterpret, draw erroneous conclusions, or experience confusion about the meaning of the messages.
Empathic responding serves a critical function by enabling social workers to focus in depth on troubling feelings. Open-ended and empathic responses may also be blended to facilitate and encourage discussion from group members about a defined topic. For instance, after using an open-ended response to solicit group feedback regarding a specified topic ("I'm wondering how you feel about …"), the social worker can employ empathic or other facilitative responses to acknowledge the contribution of members who respond to the invitation to comment.

Empathic and concrete responses can also be used to elicit details of interaction in an initial conjoint session. Such blending is a potent technique for eliciting specific and abundant information that bears directly on clients' problems. Responses that seek concreteness elicit details. In contrast, empathic responses enable social workers to stay attuned to clients' moment-by-moment experiencing, thereby focusing on feelings that may present obstacles to the exploration.

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