Depending on the client and the length of treatment, saying goodbye can be hard for both of you.

While you generally anticipate that successful treatment will lead to the eventual termination of the client relationship, there are a variety of other reasons for why this relationship might come to an end. There might be a set number of sessions the clients insurance will allow, or maybe the end of your internship is quickly approaching. Maybe termination results from the unexpected, like a new job or an illness, or the client leaves without notice. Regardless of the cause, you and your client must be prepared for the end of your working relationship.

In this Discussion, you reflect on the termination process, the potential feelings associated with ending a client relationship, and skills to address challenges related to termination.

• Explain how you might evaluate client progress and determine when a client is ready to terminate services.
• Describe a situation when a professional relationship may end before the client achieves their goals.
• Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling that you, as the social worker, might feel regarding a planned termination and an unplanned termination.
• Describe one potential positive and one potential negative feeling a client might feel regarding both a planned and an unplanned termination of a therapeutic relationship.
• Provide a suggestion for dealing with the negative feelings that can occur with terminating client relationships.
• Identify a social work skill and provide a specific example of how your colleague might use this skill to address challenges in termination.