MSW 541 Week 3 One Disclosure Use of Self Paper Example

Course	MSW 541 Social Work Practice Foundation
Week	3
Paper type	Use of self paper
Length	About 500 words, 5 pages
Format	APA 7 student paper
School	Chamberlain University
Program	Master of Social Work (MSW)
Updated	October 2026

Free sample paper for MSW 541 Week 3

Use of Self Paper on One Disclosure Chosen for Its Usefulness: Telling a Client I Also Grew Up With a Parent Who Drank, What Tendency That History Gives Me, Where the Theory Sits and the Line Before Oversharing

Student Name

Chamberlain University

MSW 541: Social Work Practice Foundation

Instructor Name

Month Day, Year

What this page is doingThe title picks one disclosure and asks what it was for, which keeps the paper about use of self rather than autobiography.

The Disclosure

I grew up with a parent who drank heavily. In my fifth week, T., 34, sent to us by the court after a second arrest for driving while drunk, said, "You don't know what it's like to have everyone watching you drink." I said, "I grew up watching someone drink, so I know a little of what it's like from the other side."

What this page is doingNaming the exact words of the disclosure lets the reader judge whether it served the client.

Why That One

I chose it because T. had been treating me as one more official checking up. The disclosure was short, true and about my position, not my feelings. It was meant to show I was not judging T. from nowhere.

What Happened Next

T. was quiet, then said, "So you know the excuses." It shifted the session toward how T.'s drinking looked to T.'s children, which T. had not raised before.

I did not add anything after that. T. had picked up the disclosure and turned it toward T.'s own children, which is where the focus belonged. Later in the session T. asked whether my parent had ever stopped, and I said, "For a while," and returned to T.'s week.

What this page is doingRecording what the writer did not say after the disclosure shows the focus returned to the client.

From Tendency to Action

My history gives me a tendency to watch for denial and to feel impatient when a client minimizes. That tendency could make me confrontational. In practice, I hold it by asking myself, before I respond to minimizing, whether I am responding to the client or to my parent. When I notice impatience, I slow down and reflect what the client said rather than challenging it, which is consistent with how motivational interviewing approaches ambivalence (Miller & Rollnick, 2013).

Where the Theory Sits

The quality of the working relationship between client and worker predicts outcome about as reliably as anything studied across the different forms of therapy (Horvath et al., 2011). A disclosure is justified only if it strengthens that relationship and keeps the focus on the client.

What this page is doingGrounding the disclosure in alliance research explains why it was chosen rather than defending it as authenticity.

The Line Before Oversharing

I did not say what my parent drank, how it ended or how I felt. If T. had asked, I would have said, "That's a story for another time; I'd rather hear about yours." The line is any detail that would make T. take care of me.

Managed, Not Solved

My history will keep shaping how I hear clients who drink. I brought this disclosure to supervision the same week, and my field instructor and I agreed I would raise any future disclosure about my family in supervision before making it.

References

Horvath, A. O., Del Re, A. C., Flückiger, C., & Symonds, D. (2011). Alliance in individual psychotherapy. Psychotherapy, 48(1), 9-16. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0022186

Miller, W. R., & Rollnick, S. (2013). Motivational interviewing: Helping people change (3rd ed.). Guilford Press.

Reading the MSW 541 Week 3 instructions

The use of self paper picks one disclosure or one use of personal history and examines what it was for. Quote the words you used, so a reader can judge them. Explain why you chose that disclosure and what you hoped it would do for the client. Report what happened next. Then trace the tendency your history gives you, the way it could shape your responses for better or worse, and how you manage it in practice. Ground the choice in theory or research about the helping relationship. Name the line you will not cross, especially details that would make the client take care of you. Close with how the tendency is managed rather than solved.

How this MSW 541 Week 3 example is built

The disclosure section quotes the writer telling T. about growing up watching someone drink. The reason section explains it was short, true and about the writer's position, meant to answer T.'s sense of being judged from nowhere. The next section reports T.'s reply about excuses and the turn toward T.'s children. The tendency section describes impatience with minimizing and the habit of reflecting rather than challenging, citing Miller and Rollnick (2013). The theory section cites Horvath et al. (2011) on alliance and outcome. The line section lists details withheld and a sentence for redirecting. The close records bringing the disclosure to supervision and agreeing on a rule for future disclosures.

MSW 541 Week 3 rubric: what full points look like

Faculty grade whether the disclosure was chosen for the client's benefit and whether the writer can show that. Quoting the exact words earns credit because it lets a reader judge length, content and focus. The analysis of the tendency carries significant weight: personal history shapes practice, and the paper should show how, with a concrete habit for managing it. Grounding in alliance research or another relevant source is expected. Naming the line before oversharing shows judgment. A difficult disclosure is not required; a modest one examined carefully scores well. First person is appropriate. Supervision should appear as part of how the tendency is managed.

MSW 541 Week 3 help: mistakes that cost points

Use of self papers most often lose points by describing the writer's history at length and the disclosure briefly. Another common problem is a disclosure that shifted the session toward the writer. Some papers present personal history as a strength without naming the risk it brings. Others leave out supervision, so the disclosure looks like an unchecked decision. If you have not worked in the field yet, a disclosure in a volunteer or peer support role can serve. The same order applies: the words, the reason, what followed, the tendency, the theory and the line, closing with how supervision will keep it in check. A disclosure paper that ends with what the writer will raise in supervision next time shows the use of self is being managed, not only described.

Get a MSW-541 Week 3 example written to your instructions

Send the assignment file and the rubric exactly as your classroom shows them, and a custom example written to that wording comes back inside 24 to 48 hours, the first one free. MSW-541 is taught without a placement attached, so what is written here is coursework only; no agency form, log or supervisor signature is ever part of it.

More MSW 541 papers and MSW samples

MSW 541 Week 3 questions, answered

Do I have to disclose something difficult to score well?

No. The rubric rewards a demonstrated link between a fact about the writer and a predictable move in practice, and an ordinary fact carries that as well as a painful one. The example uses a background detail that is unremarkable on its own, then shows it producing a specific bias in who the writer would believe first. Difficulty is not the currency here.

Can I write this in the first person?

Yes, and the example does throughout. Third person actively hurts in this particular assignment, because the subject is the writer and the distance reads as evasion to a marker. Everything else about the format holds, though: a title page, headings, references and consistent citation in whatever style your section names. An informal voice is not permission for informal formatting.

What if I have not worked in the field yet?

Most students in this week have not, and the assignment is built for that. Situations can be hypothetical as long as they are specific: the example names a kind of person the writer expects to find difficult and describes what they would probably do about it, which is a claim a marker can weigh. An imagined room is fine; a vague one is not.

Where can I find a free MSW 541 Week 3 sample paper?

Below the facts table sits the complete MSW 541 Week 3 use of self paper about one short disclosure to T. and the line before oversharing.

What line does the MSW 541 Week 3 sample refuse to cross?

Any detail that would make the client take care of the worker, such as what the parent drank or how the writer felt, with a ready sentence to redirect to the client's story.