WK10DISCUS

Depending on the client and the length of treatment, saying goodbye can be hard for both of you.

MANAGEMENT OF PLANNED AND UNPLANNED TERMINATION

Depending on the client and the length of treatment, saying goodbye can be hard for both of you.

While you generally anticipate that successful treatment will lead to the eventual termination of the client relationship, there are a variety of other reasons for why this relationship might come to an end. There might be a set number of sessions the client’s insurance will allow, or maybe the end of your internship is quickly approaching. Maybe termination results from the unexpected, like a new job or an illness, or the client leaves without notice. Regardless of the cause, you and your client must be prepared for the end of your working relationship.

In this Discussion, you reflect on the termination process, the potential feelings associated with ending a client relationship, and skills to address challenges related to termination.

RESOURCES

Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources. 

WEEKLY RESOURCES

BY DAY 3

Post a response to the following:

· Explain how you might evaluate client progress and determine when a client is ready to terminate services.

· Describe a situation when a professional relationship may end before the client achieves their goals.

· Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling that you, as the social worker, might feel regarding a planned termination and an unplanned termination.

· Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling a client might feel regarding both a planned and an unplanned termination of a therapeutic relationship.

REFERENCES

· Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H., Jr. (2018). 
Empowerment series: Understanding generalist practice (8th ed.). CENGAGE Learning.

· Chapter 8, “Evaluation, Termination, and Follow-Up in Generalist Practice” (pp. 307–348)

· Marmarosh, C. L., Thompson, B., Hill, C., Hollman, S., & Megivern, M. (2017). 

Therapists-in-training experiences of working with transfer clients: One relationship terminates and another begins. Links to an external site.

Psychotherapy, 54(1), 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000095

RESPONSE1

Jaimee Villareal Borja

12:04amLocal: Feb 1 at 12:04am
Course: Feb 1 at 1:04am

Manage Discussion Entry

Explain how you might evaluate client progress and determine when a client is ready to terminate services.

According to Kirst-Ashman and Hall (2018), there are various ways in which services or worker-client relationships may be terminated. I would thoroughly evaluate my client’s progress. I will assess if the established intervention/treatment plan works or if they can achieve their goals. If I see that my client can manage the challenges they are facing and can meet their goals without my guidance, I will communicate with them about considering termination of services. However, if I can see less to no progress with our intervention plan, I would reevaluate the situation and consider changing our action plan.

Describe a situation when a professional relationship may end before the client achieves their goals.

An example of a situation when a professional relationship may end before the client achieves their goals is when a client’s life situation changes and their priorities shifts. The professional relationship may end when parts of the client’s life take priority over the issue they sought to address with the social worker. For example, when a client seeking employment assistance decides that he or she no longer needs the social worker’s services because they will be moving to a different state to care for their aged mother.

Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling that you, as the social worker, might feel regarding a planned termination and an unplanned termination.

One potential good feeling I might experience through a planned termination is a sense of success or fulfillment. If I see that our established interventions are effective and their objectives are being reached, I would think about terminating services. During an unplanned termination, I would have mixed feelings depending on why the worker-client relationship was terminated. If the client’s capacity to take charge of their lives and manage their issues led to the unplanned termination, I would be relieved. On the other hand, if the client’s decision to omit services leads to the cessation of services, I would feel concerned.

Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling a client might feel regarding both a planned and an unplanned termination of a therapeutic relationship.

The client may see empowerment about a planned termination as a potentially positive feeling. In this case, the client received support and finished what they set out to do. Fear is one possible unpleasant emotion the client can experience due to the scheduled termination. The client can feel as though the social worker has been by their side and fear being let go.

Relief is one good feeling the client could experience after an unplanned termination. The client might have stopped using the services alone if they thought social workers weren’t helping them. A potential negative feeling a client may feel regarding unplanned termination is abandonment. The client may feel neglected or failed by the social worker who was supposed to advocate for them or ensure that they are achieving their intended goals.

Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H., Jr. (2018). Empowerment series: Understanding generalist practice (8th ed.). CENGAGE Learning.

RESPONSE 2

Denise Mae Freeman

9:20amLocal: Feb 1 at 9:20am
Course: Feb 1 at 10:20am

Manage Discussion Entry

Management of Planned and Unplanned Termination

Everything worthwhile eventually fades away. Counselling is an in-depth procedure that calls for your full participation. If things have gone well, you’ll have grown as a person, and the following step will be simple. It will be tough to take the next step if something is going on that’s getting in the way of personal development. However, no matter how things turn out, they must eventually end (Kirst-Ashman, & Hull, 2018). Relationship termination is the last step in the therapeutic process. A counselling session’s termination occurs when the therapist and client agree to cease their working relationship. Since the decision to end counselling sessions is often made at the client’s final meeting with the therapist, this process can be just as crucial as the first. It’s impossible to leave on a sour note since the customer must feel that their time with you was worthwhile and impactful.

In addition to “natural termination” and “unnatural termination,” there are many more possible causes of termination. A termination and referral are necessary if there is insufficient time to form a connection or the client suffers from a problem outside the counsellor’s expertise. A referral suggests that a client visit a specific counsellor with experience with a particular issue. If your present counsellor thinks someone else is more equipped to handle the situation, they may recommend another counsellor. Advanced knowledge and expertise are shown in identifying one’s limitations. You’ll probably cause trouble if you believe you can find common ground with everyone on every issue.

Planned or unexpected terminations may be initiated by either the customer or the employee (Marmarosh et al, 2017). Because of the lack of time for dialogue and defusing, especially in the case of unforeseen terminations, both the employee and the customer may be left with feelings of abandonment, relief, anger, and humiliation. Though unscheduled, a last meeting 

for dialogue and handover can be incorporated into certain worker-initiated terminations; this is the gold standard. However, in some instances, the client and the professional experience good emotions, most often during intentional terminations, such as celebration and devotion, as in occasions when the relationship terminates because the client improves. Because we are human, it is hard to shut off our emotions during a termination completely, but the key is to keep your cool and act professionally.

References

Kirst-Ashman, K. K., & Hull, G. H., Jr. (2018). Empowerment series: Understanding generalist practice (8th ed.). CENAGE Learning.

Marmarosh, C. L., Thompson, B., Hill, C., Hollman, S., & Megivern, M. (2017). Therapists-in-training experiences of working with transfer clients: One relationship terminates, and another begins. Links to an external site. Psychotherapy, 54(102-113.