The Intersubjective Action of Case Advocacy and Engagement in a Working Alliance

Abstract

This article presents a viewpoint for explaining the positive associations between case advocacy and the engagement in a working alliance of low‐income single mothers at‐risk for physical abuse of their children. Utilizing narrative vignettes from a qualitative study about clinical social workers’ experiences in engaging this population, the article suggests that client/worker partnerships in case advocacy enhanced opportunities for client/worker mutuality and for worker capacities to experience and communicate empathy to their clients. Theoretical constructs from Daniel J. Stern’s infant research and neuroscience are then applied to suggest an intersubjective framework for understanding what occurred.

Keywords:

• case advocacy
• working alliance
• intersubjectivity
• empathy
• mutuality
• single mothers
• physical child abuse