Building Rapport with Tough Clients

There are plenty of social work interventions, but the worker-client relationship is the foundation for nearly all of them. Social workers must learn therefore how to navigate all types of client relationships and how to build rapport with the most easygoing clients to the toughest. 

Common Challenges with Tough Clients 

When I worked in community mental health, I had my fair share of challenging clients. One client told me directly during our initial visit, that she “didn’t like and didn’t trust” behavioral health professionals. Another client announced that that due to his previous experiences with women, he was sure that I “couldn’t be too bright.” 

The experiences that I had were, unfortunately, not isolated incidents. Working with challenging clients is common in the human service profession, especially for family service workers, workers in child welfare, and workers with mandated clients. Any worker in the profession, however, may experience the following attitudes or behaviors from challenging clients:

• Rude, inconsiderate, or hostile behavior
• Belittling comments
• Prejudiced behavior and stereotypes
• Misperceived intentions or false accusations
• Mistrust
• Projections and transference 

Sometimes challenging behavior from clients is less about what they do, and more about what they do not do.  Inconsistency, disengagement, and lack of progress for example, can often be just as challenging as overt negative displays.

Why Building Rapport with Clients Matters 

Navigating client relationships when experiencing the challenging behaviors described above is no small feat, and it often requires consulting our professional codes. As helping professionals, we must bear in mind that while our work with clients is collaborative, it is not reciprocal. We hold the ethical responsibility of promoting positive, healthy, and respectful interactions with our clients, regardless of whether clients reciprocate.¹

Moreover, as social workers and human service professionals, we agree that client relationships are central to our work and that relationships are “important vehicle[s] for change.”¹ Research supports that the worker-client relationship is a key factor in the effectiveness of social work interventions, regardless of the specific intervention type.²  Research also demonstrates that strengths-based relationship approaches have the power to transform client ambivalence and hostility.³ The importance of building rapport with challenging clients therefore cannot be understated. 

Tips for Building Rapport with Challenging Clients

Social workers can become more successful in building rapport with challenging clients when they hone in on the following skillsets and principles of trauma-informed care:

1. Do Not Take Clients’ Behavior Personally: When working with difficult clients, workers must remind themselves that clients’ behavior is not personally reflective of the worker but rather, in many cases, stems from unresolved trauma or transference instead. (A detailed review of trauma and trauma-informed care can be found here– What Is Trauma-Informed Care?). Once workers shift their understanding of the root-cause for clients’ behavior, it can enable them to be less defensive and increase their capacity for compassion and grace. Casebook supports trauma-informed care by helping workers to securely document sensitive client data, such as clients’ trauma history. Casebook also enables workers to communicate across teams and to track clients’ interaction history in a centralized location.
2. Embrace Soft Skills: Although there is a plethora of advanced skills in social work, workers seeking to build rapport with challenging clients need to master the basic social skills, such as active listening and empathy. Soft skills are also an important part of trauma-informed care and when consistently demonstrated, workers can earn greater respect and trust from defensive clients. Casebook allows workers to keep track of clients’ preferences, such as client’s preferred name, which enhances relationship-building efforts.  
3. Practice Boundaries & Self-Care: The relationship between self-care and a worker’s relationship with clients is not always obvious initially, but healthy boundaries and self-care are critical to a worker’s ability to form healthy client relationships. I explain how the two are interconnected here: Balancing Compassion and Boundaries: My Journey as a Social Worker – Casebook.
4. Exhibit Patience and Persistence: With tough clients, every interaction builds on the last. Casebook ensures that key details don’t get lost, making it easier for social workers to track progress and maintain consistency, even when multiple team members are involved.

Working with tough clients can test social workers personally and professionally. Embracing challenging clients strengthens our skills and deepens our understanding of the human experience. With the right tools—like Casebook—social workers can document progress, track client needs, and build trust over time, making even the toughest client relationships more manageable and meaningful. Client interactions ultimately comprise some of the most rewarding and challenging parts of the profession. 

References:

1. National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics
2. Drisko, J.  (2013, September 03). Common Factors in Psychotherapy. Encyclopedia of Social Work.  https://oxfordre.com/socialwork/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/acrefore-9780199975839-e-877.
3. Ferguson, H., Disney, T., Warwick, L., Leigh, J., Cooner, T. S., & Beddoe, L. (2020). Hostile relationships in social work practice: anxiety, hate and conflict in long-term work with involuntary service users. Journal of Social Work Practice, 35(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/02650533.2020.1834371