Working with emotions in social work practice. A pride-building model for institutional care of young people

Abstract

In this article we point out why social workers and treatment staff must have knowledge of how to identify emotions, understand their own emotions and understand the emotions they elicit in others as a prerequisite for successful rehabilitation. In particular, the emotions of shame and pride play a crucial role in the interaction between social workers and clients.There is currently a need for empirically applicable models that facilitate social workers and therapists in institutional care to identify shame and pride in the interaction with clients. Here we provide a model that can be used to analyze the quality of the social bonds between treatment staff and young clients in institutional care.Institutionalized treatment of young people is often based on an asymmetrical power relationship and the transformation of deviant young people’s identity into normal ones. This is fraught with risks, as the power imbalance can preserve and reinforce deviant identities. To encourage the emergence of a normalized identity, the client's good qualities must form the basis of treatment. Greater understanding of the emotions evoked in a treatment situation is necessary for successful rehabilitation.