Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 13 - Practice Skills in Effecting Change and Managing Barriers to It

A presentation at Heritage University in November 2025 by Jacob Campbell and is tagged with Heritage University, MSW Program, SOWK 530

Text on teal background reads: 'Practice Skills in effecting change and managing barriers to it.' Below, 'CHANGE' is written with an arrow disrupting the 'A.' A black box contains: 'Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. LICSW, Heritage University, Fall 2025 SOWK 530, Week 13.'

Slide titled 'Week 13 Plan' features an agenda listing research paper preparation, empathy practice, change barriers, client dynamics reflection, and confrontation. Objectives include empathy skills, reflective reactions, and confrontation techniques.

A slide titled 'Family Treatment Modality Research Paper' outlines assignment details for researching family therapy techniques, listing potential theories and paper requirements. Key sections include introduction, history, implementation, findings, and limitations. Deadline: 12/01/25, 08:00 AM. Document must include a title page, abstract, written article, and reference page.

A rubric table evaluates components of a 'Family Treatment Modality Research Paper,' including organization, content, and APA formatting. Detailed criteria describe quality expectations for a highly developed paper.

Document displayed with comments highlighting formatting, placed beside bold text reading “Put Particular Attention into Your APA Style Formatting.” Footer text includes “Jacob Campbell” and class information.

**Slide Title**: Additive Empathy and Interpretation: Practice with Client Statements**Description**: A slide outlines skill development exercises for empathy and interpretation, focusing on client statements. It suggests role-playing partner exercises, referencing pages 401-403 for details. Authored by Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. at Heritage University.

Slide text discusses 'Barriers to Change.' Bullet points list issues: problematic social worker behavior, cross-racial/cultural experiences, difficulties establishing trust, transference, and countertransference. Authored by Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. at Heritage University.

The slide illustrates 'Reactance Theory,' highlighting how 'Reactance' is influenced by 'Importance of freedom' and 'Magnitude of threat to freedom,' leading to 'Mental Effects' and 'Behavioral Effects.'

Slide titled 'Case Examples and Personal Reactions' shows instructions for processing reactions to clients. It lists five case examples and prompts reflection on beliefs, emotions, and client demographics.

Slide showing methods for processing client reactions. Main actions: 'Sharing' and 'Group Feedback.' Context includes reasons for reactions like reality-based perceptions. Author: Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. Fall 2025 Week 13 SOWK 530.

Text on a presentation slide reads: 'We can become anxious when faced with clients' reactions or behaviors. In addition, it is common to feel nervous and uncomfortable when they have a certain feeling toward a client.' Credits: 'Jacob Campbell, Ph.D. LICSW at Heritage University' and 'Fall 2025 Week 13 SOWK 530' appear at the bottom.

Arrow pointing horizontally, labeled 'Self-Confrontation' on the left and 'Assertive Confrontation' on the right, describes 'A Range of Confrontation Skills.' Text explains confrontation reactions and social worker roles.

Slide presents four elements of 'Effective Assertive Confrontation': expressing concern, describing client's goals, identifying inconsistent behavior, and discussing probable negative outcomes. Context: educational presentation.

A slide titled 'Effective Assertive Confrontation' presents a template for addressing concerns, outlining desired outcomes, actions, and consequences. It includes an exercise for role-playing. Credits: Jacob Campbell, Heritage University.

Dr. Jacob Campbell

14 slides

Description

Week 13 is synchronous with a class session on Saturday (11/22/25). Students will read about barriers that make change hard for clients and how we might limit those barriers in our practice (Hepworth et al, 2025). There are forums for reflection on the reading, for sharing personal experiences of making individual change, and a space to explore cultural and racial dynamics and the impact they might have on our helping relationships with clients. The agenda for the in-person class includes:

Preparing for research paper
Additive empathy practice
Barriers to change
Reflecting on client dynamics
Confrontation

The learning objectives this week include

Identify and analyze common barriers that interfere with the client change process.
Reflect on personal experiences of making change to build insight into client challenges.
Recognize and address the influence of cross-cultural and cross-racial dynamics in social work practice.
Practice and apply additive empathy and interpretation skills in response to client statements.
Examine and reflect on personal and professional reactions to client behaviors and identities.
Demonstrate the ability to use assertive confrontation techniques within a helping relationship.