What special techniques can Service Coordinators use to promote trust?
During resident needs assessments, goal setting meetings, and all interactions, Service Coordinators are encouraged to use a client-centered approach, motivational interviewing techniques, and trauma-informed care, as relevant. More information about a client-centered approach, motivational interviewing, and trauma-informed care can be found through the resources in this section’s textbox.
- Under a client-centered approach, the Service Coordinator serves as facilitator.The Service Coordinator will do more listening than talking and may use guided questions to facilitate the conversation.The Service Coordinator should listen carefully for important personal experiences and potential traumas. This approach builds trust between the client and the Service Coordinator and empowers the client to identify the goals they wish to achieve.The Service Coordinator can then link the client to the services needed to achieve those goals.
- Motivational interviewing is a client-centered approach to case management that focuses on engaging an individual’s own internal motivations to help change behaviors and work toward goals. Core principles associated with this approach include*:
- Express empathy for clients’ experiences and views;
- Support self-efficacy to help clients feel empowered to make changes, and affirm steps toward progress;
- Roll with resistance to change, and explore reasons why a client wants to change rather than trying to convince them to change; and
- Develop discrepancy to help clients understand how their current behaviors fit with their expressed goals.
* See resources in the textbox below for more information about these terms.
- Trauma-informed care is a way of engaging with clients that demonstrates empathy and understanding with regard to the psychological and/or emotional effects of past or current traumas they may have experienced. It focuses on a client’s strengths to help them overcome the emotional scars that may be impeding them from meeting their personal goals. Service Coordinators should apply the principles of trauma-informed care broadly, acknowledging that some traumas may be hidden and that, on its own, the experience of living in poverty can be traumatic for some residents.
For more guidance on these topics, please review the resources in this section’s textbox. These approaches should inform all interactions with clients and help Service Coordinators implement techniques that will help them serve their clients successfully.
Webinar: Motivational interviewing for ROSS grantees (Coming Soon)
This webinar includes an overview of motivational interviewing, as well as similar techniques and strategies, and how these are employed to effectively engage clients. The Ft. Worth, TX Housing Authority Service Coordinator provides insight on the effective use of motivational interviewing techniques specifically with ROSS program participants.
Resources for learning more about a client-centered approach, including the key strategy of motivational interviewing
- Family Self-Sufficiency Program Online Training – Module 3.1 of this training describes best practices for a client-centered approach.
- Making the Transition from Case Manager to Coach – This brief describes key components of a coaching approach to working with clients.
- The Co-Active Coaching Model – The Coaches Training Institute offers trainings and a free webinar on the Co-Active Coach Training program. This coaching model is client-driven, graduated into small steps, and supportive.
- Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) – This professional non-profit organization of independent motivational interviewing trainers maintains a list of trainers, training events, and other resources.
- Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University: Motivational Interviewing – The Center for Evidence-Based Practices offers information and resources, including training information, on motivational interviewing.
- Spotlight on PATH Practices and Programs: Motivational Interviewing – Report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) detailing motivational interviewing and how to use it effectively.
- Encouraging Motivation to Change: Am I Doing This Right? – A checklist of questions from the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University to help Service Coordinators self-assess their own adherence to motivational interviewing principles.
Resources for learning more about trauma-informed care
- National Center on Family Homelessness: Trauma-Informed Care – The National Center develops and disseminates tools and resources for adopting trauma-informed care across service systems and provides training and technical assistance to support implementation.
- The Trauma Informed Care Project – This website explains how trauma may affect services system and/or families, and includes a calendar of trainings and events, resources listings, and a form to request training.
- National Center for Trauma-Informed Care & Alternatives to Seclusion and Restraint – Details SAMHSA's six key principles of a trauma-informed case management approach and trauma-specific interventions to address trauma’s consequences and facilitate healing.