Resources for building a Working Alliance
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The tasks for this 3rd topic are...
- To look at the small but consistent body of research on why some practitioners are more effective at helping people than others.
- To explore the characteristics of therapists' behaviours and why these influence outcomes so strongly.
- To debate the motion: ‘Informal discussion, or chat, is a crucial part of building a working alliance between practitioner and service user’.
- Finally, discussion with your study group or mentor about what it is that enables practitioners to build a working alliance.
Resources for Building a Working Alliance topic
You have already watched some videos about Helpful People, now you are going to read about some research...
- Be sure to take in the classic study by Chafetz et al. which shows the importance of practitioners who are motivated to help people with addiction problems.
- Equally important is the Luborsky et al. study which shows how variable practitioners are in their effectiveness.
- You might be especially interested in the Laugharne et al. study about what service users want from their practitioners.
This link will take you to ▶︎ Helpful People Research Articles
Lifelong Learning is part of the professional life of practitioners. It is enjoyable to learn new things and improve your practice...
- Read about Continuing Professional Development and then Practice Supervision.
- Effective practitioners are able to build a strong working alliance with their service user. Do the Working Alliance Test - WAI.
Be aware that practitioners tend to over-estimate their Working Alliance scores; in real treatment situations you should also ask your service user to complete a Working Alliance questionnaire (it can be found on the Six Tasks for Recovery page) and then compare your results.
This link will take you to ▶︎ Lifelong Learning
When you are happy that you have done this task move on to your Reflections