Enhancing client empowerment is a major concern of clinical social workers. Empowerment is a process and an outcome. There are numerous interventions that enhance client empowerment, and among them is focusing on client strengths. Both the strengths-based and empowerment-based approaches emphasize the importance of skillfully using language in dialoguing with clients; however, there is little specificity in either of these 2 approaches on how to operationalize this process. This article discusses specific ways to use language in working with client strengths and empowering clients. The discussion and examples are presented from the metatheoretical perspective of constructivism.
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