Discussion: Interviewing Skills

Imagine that a client sits in front of you at the start of an intake session. What kinds of questions will you ask? How will you retrieve the necessary information while also building rapport?

Clients come into the helping process with varied attitudes and personality traits. Additionally, clients come from various socioeconomic backgrounds, genders, religions, cultures, professions, physical abilities, ages, and sexual orientations. Despite the numerous variables that affect interviews, certain factors are common to all effective interviews.

In this Discussion, you explore the process involved in effective interviewing, as well as the unique qualities that you bring to a client interview.

To prepare, watch the Southside Community Services video that depicts different interview scenarios.

By Day 3

• Identify two examples of each of the following basic interviewing skills used in the session and describe the differences in the responses of the client:
  1. Closed-ended questions
  2. Open-ended questions
  3. Clarification
  4. Paraphrasing

1 (b) Discussion: Discrimination/Oppression and Social Justice

Social injustice occurs with -isms such as racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, ableism, and ageism. While discrimination is an individual act, oppression occurs from systematically discriminating against a group. Social justice is about more than eliminating individual acts of discrimination—it demands fairness within social institutions. This may take the form of accessible buildings or equal treatment within the criminal justice system.

It is easy to identify acts of past social injustice, such as Jim Crow laws or discriminatory hiring practices, and to avoid thinking about similar conditions existing today. Yet headlines continue to report on discriminatory laws targeted at non-majority populations, excessive police force against racial groups, rallies against immigrants, unequal pay for women, and human-created environmental hazards harming low-income neighborhoods. In this Discussion, you identify acts of discrimination and oppression for which social workers advocate social justice.

To prepare for this Discussion, find an online newspaper article that provides a current example of discrimination or oppression.

By Day 3

Post a response to the following:

• Briefly describe the chosen article.
• Explain how the situation is an example of discrimination and/or oppression.
• Draw from the assigned readings when explaining the specific type of discrimination represented.
• Provide the full APA reference, including the URL to the article.