Guidelines

I. Establishing rapport in public service

"Engaging [individuals] successfully, means establishing rapport, which involves reducing the level of threat and gaining the trust of the [individual recipients] in the ... helpful intent. A condition of rapport is that [the individual] perceive [the student engaged in public service] as understanding and genuinely interested in [his or her] well being."

D. Hepworth & J. Larson
Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills
(Wadsworth Publishing 1990)

The values and attitudes required of the student satisfying the public service requirement in establishing rapport are:

• Nonjudgmental attitude
• Acceptance
• Understanding the individual's right to self-determination
• Understanding the student's role as described by the agency or other institutional service recipient
• Respect for the individual's worth and dignity

II. Confidentiality

Conveying respect and affirming the worth of the individual service recipients also occurs through keeping CONFIDENTIAL any and all personal information that may be disclosed by the individual during the course of a student's public service. Disclosures by the individual should normally only be discussed with the student's supervisor at the site of the public service activity.

Never, under any circumstances, should specific personal information about the individual service recipient be discussed with others. Some examples of inappropriate situations include:

• discussions with the individual's parents, guardians, family members, or friends
• discussions with the student's family or friends
• discussions with fellow students or classmates
• discussions with professors
• conversations with other volunteers or employees of the agency
• conversations at parties, school activities, or agency social activities

When discussing the individual service recipient as part of a class discussion or a written assignment centered on the public service experience, care must be taken to:

• change the individual's name
• eliminate identifying characteristics
• suppress details about personal information that has been disclosed -- for instance, the student may state that the individual has a history of abuse by a family member, but details about who, when, and where should be kept confidential

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III. Reporting Disclosures

The only exceptions to the above confidentiality guidelines are:

1. if the individual has threatened to physically harm another person
2. if the individual has threatened to physically harm him or her self
3. if the individual has disclosed physical or sexual abuse or neglect on the part of a caretaker or other

In such instances, the student should approach the site supervisor with the information and that supervisor will follow through with appropriate state reporting procedures.

IV. Terminating the Relationship

"As [individuals] share personal problems and are accompanied through rough emotional terrain by a warm, understanding, and caring [student engaged in public service], it is common for them to develop feelings of closeness to the [student] . . . Because of the loss associated with separation, [individuals, and some students] typically experience some degree of sadness as they approach the [end of the relationship]."

Hepworth & Larson at 599

A sense of abandonment often accompanies this sadness, especially in individuals who have previous experience with abandonment of some kind. Predetermined endings due to the end of the school year or public service activity should be shared with the individual early in the relationship. "Knowing the termination date well in advance [can] provide ample time to resolve feelings about separation."

Hepworth & Larson at 599

• During the course of satisfying the public service requirement, the student may develop a relationship with an individual recipient.
• The student may have a dramatic impact on someone's life.
• The student should avoid simply dropping out of that individual's life suddenly and unexpectedly.
• Irreparable emotional damage to that individual could be the unintended result.
• Therefore, the student should always make an effort to establish a termination date, share that date with the individual, and keep his or her commitment.

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