Title: How Not to Impose Your Values on Clients | Work - Chron.com
Headings: How Not to Impose Your Values on Clients
How Not to Impose Your Values on Clients
What It Means
Develop Self-Awareness
Seek Supervision
Maintain a Neutral Position

Content: This can help you cultivate a greater sense of self-awareness and help you avoid unconsciously imposing your values on your clients. Seek Supervision
Even the most experienced helping professionals need to engage in clinical supervision from time to time, especially in situations involving difficult or challenging clients in which strong value differences can come into play. Supervision is a useful tool that can help you develop awareness of the problem and your own feelings, especially when you're unable to put your finger on what's really going on. Sometimes, your supervisor can help you determine whether you should continue working with a specific client, such as in cases when your personal beliefs are so strong that you can't act without bias or judgment. But Williams suggests referring clients to other professionals as a last resort, since this can be construed as a values statement. Maintain a Neutral Position
At times, sharing your clients' values can be useful to the treatment process, since they want to feel accepted and understood. But you also don't need to share your clients' values to convey this message. When your values conflict with those of your clients, maintain as neutral an attitude as possible, say social work professors Ralph Dolgoff, Donna Harrington and Frank M. Loewenberg in their book, "Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice." Although it may not always be realistic, a neutral attitude can help you keep your values in check. It involves simply listening to and acknowledging what the client says without judgment or bias.