The First Helping Interview: Engaging the Client and Building Trust / Edition 1

by Sara F. Fine, Paul H. Glasser

Overview

This highly practical guide for both experienced and novice professionals and students reveals the steps involved in the crucial first meeting with a client. The authors approach the task of an initial interview by providing an overview of the therapeutic process and what to expect from clients. The book also explores the practical basics of therapy - counsellor-client roles, physical settings, communication dynamics, assessment and diagnosis, record-keeping, goals and contracts and trust-building. Individual chapters discuss specialist topics such as working with couples and families, the role of culture and ethnicity, when and how to refer clients with serious problems, and legal and ethical issues.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780803971417
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	07/16/1996
Series:	SAGE Human Services Guides Series , #70
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	205
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.48(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction
On Writing about the First Helping Interview
What Makes Therapy Happen?
Who Are Our Clients?
Getting Started
Getting to Know the Client
Communication Dynamics of the Helping Interview
On Rules, Goals and Contracts
Trust
Special Issues in Working with Couples and Families
Working with Clients Who Are Different
Serious Problems
When and How to Refer
Legal and Ethical Issues in the First Interview
Afterthoughts

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Jonathan Sherman, PhD (Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine)
Description: This handbook addresses the challenges of the first interview in a counseling or therapy setting. It covers everything from suggestions on handling the first phone call, to the formal information-gathering stage, to the concluding remarks and treatment plan. The beginning chapters follow the general chronology of a intake interview, and the last few chapters cover special topics such as interviewing culturally diverse populations, legal and ethical issues, and when and how to make referrals.
Purpose: This book successfully provides an introductory set of guidelines to conducting a sensitive but thorough intake interview. It also highlights in plain accessible language how a well-conducted interview benefits the client or patient.
Audience: This book is targeted to helping professionals in various disciplines (i.e., social work, psychology, nursing, teaching, etc.) with a broad range of clinical experience. It is probably most valuable for students looking for a primer to assist in handling their face-to-face clinical work. Additionally, sections have been written specifically to address interviewing involuntary clients.
Features: This book is appropriately referenced, covering some of the most current literature on the subject. It also includes a detailed author/subject index.
Assessment: Where other books on this subject tend to overemphasize the information-gathering side of clinical interviewing, this book demonstrates better balance with its emphasis on rapport building and therapeutic interventions. Often this empathic, palliative dimension is considered difficult to teach, but these authors do an excellent job of translating aspects of the art of therapeutic interviewing into practical concrete suggestions.

Doody's Review Service

A counselor's or therapist's initial contact with a client can be crucial to the course of treatment and its importance daunting to both beginners and professionals. Fine and Glasser combine their psychology and social work expertise to create a handbook summarizing some of the cornerstones of assessment, diagnosis, and communication dynamics in the interview process. The salient word here is practical: how to set up goals and contracts, arrange an office setting, keep records, minimize risk with volatile clients, and when to refer people. The volume is suitable for anyone in the "helping professions" with a particular emphasis on child protective services, crisis intervention, and corrections. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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