Social Worker as Facilitator or Fixer?

In an observation exercise assigned to Masters-level Social Work students, Urdang provided these directives:  “It is your task not to advise, not to change, not to tell, but to inquire. As you inquire, clarify, and reflect, you will gain an appreciation of the client’s ability to think, to reason, to plan and to problem-solve" (Urdang, 1999).

My clinical supervisor, Reevah, used to say to me, "telling is not therapy" and "explore the client's ambivalence."  That is, ask about what is standing in the way between what they say they want and where they are.  Usually, there are thoughts, feelings, fears and justifications standing in the way.

When reviewing process recordings, I used to tell my interns that they did not have to change, fix, deny, or rescue clients from their feelings - listen and validate the feelings first, especially before moving on to engage in problem-solving.  I wish I remembered to do this more often in my personal life.

A renowned psychiatrist remarked that psychoanalysts allow clients to figure it out (I sense that some Social Workers perceive this as cruel), while Social Workers fix it for their clients (I believe psychoanalysts see this as infantilizing).

Where are you on the continuum?  What is the balance?  There must be some truth to both sides?  Where do the "sides" converge?