On the Effectiveness of the Solution-Focused Approach and Coaching in the Work of Social Services
On the Effectiveness of the Solution-Focused Approach and Coaching in the Work of Social Services

Summary/Abstract: The article is a comparative analysis of two methods of working with a social assistance client: coaching and solution-focused approach. It describes the stages of the methodological procedure, and shows the approach to the motivation to change in both approaches. Showing the differences between internal and external motivation in the case of social assistance clients is particularly important, as they are often people characterized by learning helplessness and with low social competence. Therefore, working on change is extremely difficult, and social and legal expectations generate many paradoxes of professional action. The solution, however, is not to control and monitor the customers’ progress, but to change the approach of defining goals for change for customers. In coaching and PSR, key goals are the client’s goals and this article explains the rationale behind this position. Then, it describes the assumptions of both approaches and presents similar techniques used in working with the client. These techniques are easy to adapt to the methodical work of social workers and assistants when they share the assumption that the client is the expert of their life, and thus of change and the path to change. It describes the structure of the change process in both approaches. The article is intended to encourage such an approach to working with clients, as it is effective, as well as releasing social workers from responsibility for clients’ failures, protecting against burnout, and easy to apply.

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