1. 3. Define warmth, empathy, and Discuss how each can function in your interaction with colleagues and
administrators.
Showing clients warmth involves displaying qualities of genuine concern and interest in the
client’s well-being and path toward balance. The function of using warmth as a part of the
therapeutic relationship is that it will allow the client to focus on his understanding of the current
situation rather than focusing on what happened in childhood and the subconscious aftermath of
childhood occurrences. Warmth involves the therapeutic use of self by the clinician to build
rapport with the client.
Empathy encompasses figuratively putting on your client’s shoes. It involves the ability
to comprehend and accept the perceived feelings and the client’s reality as well as the ability to
accurately communicate this understanding to the client. The therapeutic function of empathy
enables the clinician to have a deeper intimacy or level of connection to the client’s problematic
situation. The purpose of empathy is to develop and maintain a meaningful and well sustained
therapeutic client-clinician relationship that is useful when assisting a client with attaining a
higher level of functioning. According to the journal article “The Structure of Empathy in Social
Work Practice” empathy is a way of preserving others who are going through a trauma, crisis, or
change and it is a component of a client’s healing process.
A Social Worker may display empathy in a therapeutic setting through verbal and non-
verbally communications. Empathic verbal communications include reflection of the content the
client is sharing and using a tone of voice that is reflective of the client’s facial expressions and
gestures. Empathic non-verbal communications include mirroring the client’s facial expressions
and body posture to demonstrate an objective understanding of the client’s point of view. The
same journal article states the idea that empathy is culturally specific thus making successful

2. empathic interactions to be based on understanding the cultural context of the client’s
problematic situation and the cultural nuances encompassed in that situation. Empathy deepens
the quality of the therapeutic relationship and allows the relationship to expand in terms of trust.
Failure to use empathy as a component of one’s clinical response will convey to the client
judgment which will become a barrier to the client’s resolution of his presenting problem.
In terms of how warmth and empathy function in a work setting among colleagues and
administrators, both qualities function as means of “group” protection. According to King
(2011), “The capacity to perceive the distress of another enables a group to protect and care for
itself…” (p. 680). Because empathy involves affective mechanisms such as caring, cognitive
components such as sensitive communications with others, and a behavioral component such as
forming a therapeutic relationship, this may promote and enable a positive and productive
workplace environment with the capacity to facilitate the six core values of Social Work.
Specifically, in terms of the supportive function of supervision, empathy may compel and
support supervisors in maintaining high worker morale and improve job satisfaction through
enhancing and improving the Social Worker’s ability to perform necessary tasks using correction
and education.
Empathic therapeutic behavior is best practice because it supports the six Social Work
values. The use of empathy as a tool in demonstrates a genuineness in all roles a Worker may
practice when aiding a client’s therapeutic process.

3. Reference
King, S. H. (2011). The Structure of Empathy in Social Work Practice. Journal of Human
Behavior in the Social Environment, 21(6), 679-695.