Introduction Social Work and related professions have the potential to experience rapid change and growth in the future as technology advances and the population changes. This is especially true with artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence (AI) describes a range of technologies that allow machines or computers to make decisions that are normally made by human beings….
Category: Counselling and Service Delivery
Advanced Crisis Line Training
Introduction A few years ago when I was working for Distress Centre Durham (DCD), I undertook a project to develop a new advanced training curriculum for telephone responder. Currently the Basic Training is 16 hours of in-class, plus another 16 hours of supervised phone shifts where a responder demonstrates that they have the active listening,…
Introduction to Life Coaching
Introduction Life Coaching is a field that has been expanding since the 1970s with the growth of the Human Potential Movement. Life Coaching is “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential” (International Coach Federation, n.d.) Life coaching is frequently performed by counsellors and therapists…
Deliberate Practice in Social Work
Introduction Every field has people who are clearly at the top of their game, people who are in the middle or average, and people who shouldn’t be in the profession or who perform very poorly. And everyone wants to be part of that star-performer, top 10% group. Do we know how to get there? Surprisingly,…
Building Counselling Relationships
Introduction The most important element in a counselling relationship, whether a single session or long-term counselling, is the quality of the relationship between the counsellor and the client. For this reason, basic counselling courses spend a large amount of time on how to effectively build relationships. There are five factors influencing the counselling process: Seriousness…