Elements and Performance Criteria
- Establish relationship with the young person's nominated carer/family members
- Use a range of communication strategies to gather necessary information about the background and circumstances of young people and their families with respect for privacy and confidentiality
- Ensure information provided to young people and their families is conveyed with regard to each party's right to confidentiality in a factual, clear and ethical manner to promote positive responses
- Identify issues arising from the circumstances of young people and their families and the need for changes to behaviour and relationships
- Maintain clear, ethical and honest relationships with young person as the primary client, and their families/carers as secondary clients
- Use interaction with family members to encourage their personal reflection on relationships, expectations and personal responsibility
- Identify obstacles to professional relationships with families/carers, check personal values and issues with others and record concerns according to the code of conduct and ethics
- Exchange information with family/carers about young person's needs and/or risks within the requirements of privacy and confidentiality
- Encourage active participation and appropriate responses and model positive behaviour through the selection of effective communication techniques
- Monitor and anticipate behaviour and mood of clients for signals and respond appropriately
- Provide clients with clear, relevant information at a suitable language and comprehension level within the parameters of confidentiality and privacy of individual client
- Analyse your values for their impact on your attitudes and interactions and to detect and avoid personalising issues, discrimination and stereotyping
- Determine in consultation with the young person a mutual approach to addressing their needs
- Check current commitments in time and resources for flexibility and capacity to meet client young person's needs and expectations
- Check that objectives, outcomes and processes of young person's responses are consistent with organisation's policies and objectives and service outcomes
- Negotiate with the young person their goals and indicators of achievement and include other persons where nominated by the young person
- Plan a structured sequence of activities and timetable to achieve client objective within available resources
- Consult team members for feedback on the planned program and indications of support
- Identify resources needed for continuing work with clients and allocate according to priorities and availability
- Respond to families' concerns about young person
- Use a range of communication strategies to develop trust and mutual agreements with family members about terms and conditions of addressing their concerns including limitations on confidentiality and power differentials between individuals
- Identify and prioritise short and long term implications of family concerns
- Validate family concerns using a range of checking sources including consultation with the young person as primary client
- Provide information to family members on a need to know basis with respect for young person's privacy in a language and style they will understand
- Negotiate conditions and confirm agreement with families to encourage commitment, cooperation and mutual action
- Check information about family members for indicators of concerns, patterns of behaviour, strengths and barriers and consider this information in the approach taken
- Encourage family members to take responsibility for agreement on objectives, targets and outcomes
- Ensure location of client meetings promotes, neutrality, individual empowerment, comfort, trust, privacy, energy and focus for all clients
- Guide strengths and energy of clients to maintain positive direction, cooperation, achievements, respect