As the saying goes, “With great power comes great responsibility.” For human services professionals, a high degree of care must be exercised when it comes to engaging with others, particularly as it relates to being mindful of the power dynamic that exists between the worker and client. In this final discussion forum, you will consider the course text and the ethical principles of the National Organization for Human Services in recognizing positive and negative elements of power you possess in a fictional or actual human services scenario.

Read Chapter 12 from The Interpersonal Communication Book and answer the six statements related to your interpersonal power (p. 311-312); read the National Organization for Human Services Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals (Links to an external site.) and consider the issue of power and influence in human services. Then, review your answers to the six statements and consider the degree of interpersonal power that you believe you possess.

Initial Post: Please prepare a 300-word minimum post that sufficiently addresses each of the items below. Don’t forget that it is critical to cite your sources of information, including the textbook, using APA formatting.

• What would you identify as some of your personal communication strengths with respect to how you exercise power?
• What would you identify as some of your personal communication growth areas with respect to how you exercise power?
• If you were to imagine (or if you are currently) a human services professional working with a client population of your choice (e.g., children and families, the mentally ill, the homeless, etc.), how would (or do) you use your knowledge of your strengths and limitations, in addition to the ethical standards for human service professionals, to reduce the presence of negative power and influence that you might have in a situation with a client?

Answer preview

My communication strength in situations where I exercise power is that I am open and honest in my engagements. I encourage people to speak their minds so that I can evaluate them properly and determine the most appropriate intervention to help them. I am an active listener who uses both verbal and non-verbal cues to encourage people to communicate with me. I strive to be very proficient at this technique because researchers argue that displaying the presence of mind and…

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