For Egan (2002) active listening is about being present in ways that indentify key messages and feelings, attempting to understand the service user in terms of their context. Due to the sessions being planned this reduced the risk of interruptions and distractions. Trevithick (2005) sees listening as a creative opportunity to demonstrate our commitment and care to the service user. Listening to Emma in a safe environment allowed her to talk openly about her feelings which were part of the therapeutic process. It also guided the therapy sessions with her family and with my presence Emma started to talk openly to her mother about her problems.
Social workers when engaging and forming a relationship need to understand they are working with oppressed groups. Banks (2001) makes a point of saying if we treat everyone as equal (irrespective of age and disability etc.) workers run the risk of not recognising the level of structural discrimination and therefore do not recognise the need for positive action to promote change.
I found the task-centred approach very useful in terms of helping me identify whether the family had the necessary skills, knowledge and confidence to undertake and complete a particular task, which Marsh and Doel (2005) suggests helps to determine what support is needed from the worker. Task centred practice has been widely researched and the results have been positive, making this popular and resourceful due to time limited work within statutory agencies. This model is also popular with service users because of its clarity and sense of direction (Marsh 2002). This approach essentially supports the service user in sorting through and then helping to resolve their problems which avoids setting the worker up as the expert and the service user as the victim, helping to avoid issues of a power imbalance, which is in accordance with anti-oppressive practice.
On reflection my own active listening skills were extremely important in this social work approach.
