Emotion as a Skill: A Practical Methodology for Coping with Emotional Risks in Social Work.

This article focuses on the use of emotional skills by Chinese social workers to cope with emotional risks inherent in social work practice. Through semistructured interviews with 28 licensed social workers, the study identifies two main patterns of emotional skills application: self-directed emotion management (managing one's own emotions) and other-directed emotion management (managing clients' emotions). Both patterns involve three stages—identifying, understanding, and managing emotions—utilizing specific skills such as body scanning, emotional reflection, empathy, and communication. The findings highlight the practical procedures social workers use to navigate emotional challenges and suggest incorporating emotional skills training into social work education and professional guidelines to better support practitioners and clients.