Therapeutic Relationships in Mental Health

Overview

Course description

The focus of this course is to prepare students to develop therapeutic relationships through the use of communication skills. Empathy, warmth, genuineness, caring confrontation and immediacy will be taught. Assessment, communication, and motivational interviewing skills will be discussed as they relate to individuals experiencing mental health challenges. Conflict resolution, problem-solving, and leadership skills are also presented. Group therapy and stress management theories and techniques will be discussed. Therapeutic use of self, self-awareness, and trauma informed approaches as critical elements of developing therapeutic relationships are the foci of this course. Students will practice communication skills with actors in communication lab sessions.

Course content

Self-awareness Concepts:

Values clarification
Johari window
Therapeutic use of self to promote client’s growth
Boundaries and limit-setting

Therapeutic relationships:

Types, phases, and strategies
Rogerian approach to develop caring therapeutic relationships based on the development of trust with individuals experiencing mental health challenges

Trauma informed practice
Therapeutic Communication Skills:

Listening and attending skills
Nonverbal communication and proxemics
S.O.L.E.R
Empathy, warmth, respect, and genuineness
Caring confrontation and immediacy

Client focused problem-solving, interventions and development of action plans
Conflict resolution:

Identifying resistance
Cycle of violence, and how/when to intervene on the continuum of violence
Strategies to manage difficult situations

Stress management techniques
Risk assessment and interventions
Assessment and communication skills for various categories of mental health disorders
Empowerment and misuse of power
Strategies to manage difficult situations:

Diffusing
De-escalating
Debriefing

Concepts of Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD)
Motivational interviewing skills
Application of interviewing and communication skills through structured lab interactions with “clients”

Learning activities

CMHW/HCSW faculty facilitate student learning through a variety of learning activities which may include:

Case studies/scenarios
Group activities
Group discussions
Computer assisted learning programs
Use of electronic resources
Use of audiovisual aids
Guest speakers
Communication lab sessions

Means of assessment

Course evaluation is consistent with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. An evaluation schedule is presented at the beginning of the course.

This is a graded course.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this course, successful students will be able to:

Understand the importance of the therapeutic use of self during interactions with individuals experiencing mental health challenges
Understand the types, phases, and implementation strategies for therapeutic relationships
Demonstrate trauma informed approach in interactions
Demonstrate client-centered communication skills of active listening, attending, empathy, warmth, respect, genuineness, and beginning skills of caring confrontation and immediacy
Understand the problem-solving process in working with a client and/or multidisciplinary team
Understand the concepts and skills of conflict resolution
Demonstrate an understanding of stress management
Demonstrate the theory and application of conducting a risk assessment
Demonstrate the various communication skills associated with the various categories of mental health disorders
Understand the concepts of power and empowerment and their effects on therapeutic relationships
Identify escalating behaviours and strategies to diffuse, de-escalate, and debrief
Demonstrate basic motivational interviewing skills

Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students

A list of recommended materials is provided to the students at the beginning of the semester.

Requisites

Prerequisites

No prerequisite courses.

Corequisites

HCSW 1155 and HCSW 1170 and HCSW 1180 and HCSW 1195 and HCSW 1200

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

September 2021 (Current)