1. Running head: CLIENT PAPER 1
Client Paper
Billie Jean Johnson
BSHS/305
March 11, 2013
Ms. Annette Garcia

2. CLIENT PAPER 2
Client Paper
Charles is 35 year old veteran, his parents took him down to the recruiting office the day
he turned 18. His parents did this thinking this would make him a man because, of the problems
he had in school and in the community. They also, felt it would teach him how to discipline
himself and take more responsibility for his own actions and make better decisions. Charles
enlisted in the US Marines and reenlisted four times for three years terms.
He returned home after severing twelve years and two deployments of duties in
Afghanistan and Iraq. He got a job soon after returning home, doing the same thing he did in the
Marines and also married his childhood sweetheart. After he was home for about eighteen
months, he began to experiencing a variety of stress reactions including sleeplessness,
nightmares, and feelings of sadness, rejection, abandonment, or hopelessness. He engaged in
aggressive behavior, such as aggressive driving; and used alcohol, tobacco and drugs
excessively. Charles was arrested several times for fighting, drunk driving and possession of
illegal substances which immediately prompt his wife and parents to get him some help. He
agreed and checked into VA hospital after his last arrest.
On entering the hospital Charles was screened for substance abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD), depression, risk of suicide, and other behavioral health issues and theco-
occurrence of these problems. He was assigned a human service worker to coordinate services
and treatments and to give feedback about his screening results, describing the risks associated
with a behavioral health disorder and advising about ways to begin addressing substance use and
mental disorders.
During initial contact with Charles the helper will try and establish rapport, explain our
work together and what the schedule is like in the VA, provide information about the hospital,

3. CLIENT PAPER 3
and explain exactly what services the VA provides. Also, let the client know what is expected of
them. In turn, the helper may have some additional questions for the client for example, Dose the
client have insurance? Did someone refer you? At this point if the client’s screenings and tests
are available you may go over the results. Then, let the client know in the next meeting we will
explore intervention strategies, set goals and determine how these goals will be reached or how
the problems will be solved.
According to, An Introduction to Human Services, on the second visit,”you will address
the current status of the problem or problems, the client’s aspirations and desires, and the client’s
personal and social resources.Should the helper find the client’s problems call for expertise or
experience that the helper do not possess, the helper should refer the client to another
professional who has the necessary knowledge and skills” ( Wood &McClam 2011 ).
Our class text book says that your communication skills are “the foundation for all
interpersonal relationships. Exchanging messages to understand another perceptions, ideas, and
experiences is especially important in helping relationships.It also says, “Communication
involves sending a message to another person with the conscious intent of affecting the
receiver’s behavior. When the receiver interprets the massage the way the sender intended,
effective communication has taken place. When one person interprets the message differently
from the way it was intended, the result is communication failure, the most sources of
misunderstandings in interpersonal relationships. The book goes on to say, “The messages that a
person sends can be verbal or nonverbal. The most commonexample of a verbal message is the
spoken words: “Hello, how are you today? “ The smile and handshake or hug accompanying that
verbal greeting is nonverbal messages” (Wood &McClam 2011).

4. CLIENT PAPER 4
Another skill mentioned in the text, active listening or response listening. These terms
describe the behaviors of helpers as they attend to both the verbal and the nonverbal
communication of the client. The special thing about this listening is that helpers also attend
towhat is not said, that is, to the underlying thoughts and feelings of the client, which are not
expressed in words (Wood &McClam 2011). There are five other guidelines behaviors helpers
can follow to let the clients know they are physically present and actively involved in helping
relationships;
face the client squarely
adopt an open posture
lean toward the other person
maintain good eye contact
try to relatively relax
You can remember them by the acronym soler. It also lists another listening skill technique
attending behavior. Engaging in this behavior encourages the client to talk, reducing the amount
of talk from the helper. The goal of attending behavior is to encourage the client to talk about
and examine issues, problems, orconcerns. This attending behavior has four dimensions:
Visual/eye contact, vocal qualities, verbal tracking, and body language.There is one more
communication technique that beginning helpers should be wary of is questioning. Too many
questions can interfere in with the helping relationship causing the client to feel like a witness.
The text gives three a situation in which questioning is helpful. The first situation is at the
beginning of an interview is a appropriate time to ask questions, “Could you tell me, a little
about yourself?, second situation is when specific information is needed, and the final situation is
when the client is rambling on and on you can ask a question to refocus the client.

5. CLIENT PAPER 5
The human service model is what I would use with Charles because“ the primary
method of treatment or service is problem solving, a process focused on the here and now that
maximizes the identification and use of client strengths. Once the problem is accurately
identified and client strengths determined, some type of intervention may occur. The problem-
solving approach is used in this for several reasons. First, the process provides a systematic way
of thinking about complex situation in clear, understandable terms, encouraging the client and
the worker to prioritize the problems that need to be addressed and discouraging impulsive,
reactive behaviors. As a part of this approach, client strengths focus on the positive rather than
deficits, anencouraging approach for clients. Second, the effectiveness of the process can be
assessed at each stage. Third, clients can learn this problem-solving process and use it
themselves when they no longer require services. Fourth, the outcomes of the process support the
philosophy of human services by fostering client self-esteem and sense of personal responsibility
as clients work successfully through the process. Fifth, the approach is a tool for identifying
other problems that may occur and determining strategies to prevent future problems” (Wood
&McClam 2011).

6. CLIENT PAPER 6
Woodsider, M., &McClam,T. (2011). An Introduction to Human Services. (7 ed.). Mason, OH:
Cengage Learning.