The beginning and development of a professional helping relationship

Abstract

The helping relationship is a privileged tool of intervention in the psychosocial work. It brings us to the development of relationship centered on the person, which values and helps to develop competencies that allow the person to empower and emancipate oneself. The beginning of a helping relationship could determine the intervention’s course. Therefore, it is fundamental that the professional reflects about its role, the other’s role, the relationship and the intervention context. Through the analysis of a case, this article searches to reflect about the specificities of an early-stage helping relationship, namely the specificities of the first encounters, the explanation of the intervention to do, the therapeutic alliance and the attachment and separation-individuation processes in the development of the helping relationship.

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