Hopefully you will receive our message that we're a dedicated team of social workers, not medically trained clinical personnel. However, we believe that root causes based on social dynamics can exacerbate medical problems. By finding practical, efficient, long term solutions to that causality we can directly enhance the quality of life of our patients and indirectly improve that of their families. One of our favorite sayings is:
"Empathy is the Best Policy"
Empathy is the capacity to understand another person's experience from within that person's frame of reference.
Appropriate use of empathy as an enhanced communication/ diagnostic tool facilitates the efficiency of gathering information, promotes therapeutic effectiveness - which leads to better health outcomes, while still (and most importantly) honoring the client.
Of all the elements involved in effective communication, empathy seems to be the most powerful component, but oftentimes is the most under utilized.
Don't confuse empathy with sympathy or pity !
Pity describes a relationship which separates social worker from the cliient. Pity is condescending and may entail feelings of contempt or rejection.
Sympathy is when the social worker experiences feelings if he or she were the sufferer. Sympathy is shared suffering.
Empathy is the feeling relationship in which the social worker understands the patient's plight as if the social worker were the patient.
