How are you going and where to from here?
The follow-up phone call is not left to chance, but is booked in at the end of the session. Some workers and clients may feel confident waiting a few weeks to speak; other times, it may seem that a call in a day or two would be more appropriate and helpful.
The follow-up phone call is a chance for both worker and client to assess, collaboratively, whether and in what way the session was useful, and where to go from here. Once again, any decision is fine and should be made with the clients' needs and best interests at heart. Needing another session (or even longer-term work) is not a sign of failure on anyone's part.
Once the caller (which should, ideally, be the worker who conducted the session) gets past the basic 'hi, how are you going?' phase of the call, we have some forms which may help as a guide to gaining useful information, to help decide what is the best way forward.
All of the Follow-Up Phone Call forms can be downloaded from the Resources section of these webpages. Those include the SSW Phone Follow-Up Form, SSW Evaluation Letter and Form, and a Post-SSW Client Questionnaire.
Who to call when you have seen multiple clients
What if your clients were a family of six? The worker would be wise to negotiate at the end of session about who would appreciate a call and who would prefer not to get one. In some cases, it may seem appropriate and even necessary to follow up with every person who attended the session; in other cases, one person may be elected to represent a couple's or a family's interests on their behalf.
