Building Strengths and Skills : A Collaborative Approach to Working with Clients

Corcoran (social work, Virginia Commonwealth U.) provides social service and mental health professionals with practice models for helping clients identify resources to help themselves as well as areas where their skills can be increased.

Rather than identifying and fixing preceived client weaknesses, this book takes into account both individual resources and the areas where client skills can be bolstered, offering an eclectic practice approach that interweaves and operationalizes both strengths-based practices approaches. In teh strengths and skills based model, which intergrates solution-focused therapy, motivational interviewing, anf cognitive behavioural therapy, clients are assumed to have the necessary capacities to solve their own problems, and a major focus of treatment is bolstering motivation and resources. When these resources are exhausted or when deficits are identified as a substantial barrier to change then skill building is introduced. However, sklls are taught in a collaborative fashion and as much as possible are made relevant to the client''s unique circumstance. Chapters apply this approach to such issues as adolescent conduct problems, depression, substance abuse and domestic violence. This innovative, dynamic resource offers an assessment and intervention model for practitioners in the helping, social service and mental health professions. In addition the helping process can be applied in any number of roles, including that of case manager, probation officer, caseworker, medical social service personnel, counselor, crisis worker and therapist.