I hope you are all doing well. Let me know if there is anything I can do for you and have a great week!

Unit Introduction and What You Will Learn

Week three is an asynchronous week Students will read two chapters from Hepworth et al. (2023) focused on empathy, authenticity, and skills for engaging with our clients across many contexts There are forums asking students to observe and report on empathetic communication in their lives, challenges and considerations with empathetically responding They also have a chance to explore content from the readings and consider anti-oppressive practices in their practicum and what some of the potential assumptions we make in regards to direct practice skills In my lecture video this week, I talk about authentically responding. The types of self-disclosure we might engage in with our clients. The agenda for the lecture video includes:

• Assignments for week 03
• Authenticity in the therapeutic alliance
• Self-disclosure and an example

The Learning Objectives This Week include:

• Define and differentiate authenticity, self-involving statements, and personal self-disclosure within clinical practice.
• Evaluate the appropriate use of self-disclosure in social work, considering timing, purpose, and professional boundaries.
• Observe and reflect on empathic communication in everyday interactions, including one’s own use of empathic responses.
• Evaluate anti-oppressive practices within practicum settings and assess how agency culture shapes client engagement.
• Critically examine how “Westernized” assumptions in direct practice skills may affect diverse client populations, and explore culturally responsive adaptations.

Unit Assignments

Content

• Read Hepworth et al. (2023) Chapter 5 Building Blocks of Communication: Conveying Empathy and Authenticity
• Read Hepworth et al. (2023) Chapter 6 Verbal Following, Exploring, and Focusing Skills
• Watch Royal Society of Arts. (2013) Brené Brown on Empathy
• Watch my lecture video

A-02 W-01 Asynchronous Engagement

The expectation is that each of your replies will be substantive and provide meaningful perspectives, contributing to the forum’s conversation and scholarship. They can be related to the prompts or building on conversations shared by peers. There are five forums for this week, and you are expected to make at least six replies across any of the forums. These forums include the following:

• The Personal Experiment Observing Your Conversations forum encourages students to step back and observe the presence (or absence) of empathy in everyday interactions, while experimenting with using empathic responses in their own relationships.
• In Challenges and Considerations with Empathic Responding, students reflect on Brené Brown’s take on empathy and explore what makes empathic responding both powerful and difficult in practice.
• Students investigate how their practicum agencies approach equity, anti-racism, and accountability, then reflect on how these organizational values shape client engagement through the Anti-oppressive Practices in Practicum Setting forum.
• The “Westernized” Assumptions of Direct Practice Skills forum opens up space to question the cultural lens embedded in standard social work practice skills and explore how those skills might be deconstructed or adapted across diverse client populations.
• In the Chapters Five and Six Content Discussion, students select from a variety of practical prompts, touching on topics like informed consent, empathy, reflection, self-disclosure, and client mistrust.

A-03 Reading Quiz

Complete W-03 Hepworth et al. (2023) Chapters 05 and 06 due by Saturday 9/13, 8:00 AM.

Unit Resources

If you still don’t have the textbook, I have included this week’s material digitally below as a handout for your reference. This week, I also asked you to watch Brené Brown on Empathy (Royal Society of Arts, 2013).

All of the presentations for this class can be found at https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com. This week’s slides are Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 03 - Authenticity and Self-Disclosure in the Therapeutic Alliance.

The Lecture Videos tab in the MyHeritage course is where you will be able to find class recordings. The video this week is at Fall 2025 SOWK 530 Week 03.

To-Do List

• Read chapters 5 and 6 in the textbook
• Watch my lecture video and the short video by RSA
• Complete at least six replies across any of the forums