A vital element of social work is to be able to engage and communicate effectively with others. Communication can be defined as an event of giving and receiving information. Interpersonal skills, ability to develop a positive and trusting relationship and being able to show empathy determines the quality and effectiveness of interaction with others. Through Communication we engage with service users and be able to form assessments, conduct interviews, take up decision making and problem solving activities, draw and implement care plans and evaluate our effectiveness (Trevithick:2005). Communication skills support us to obtain required information and allow others to express their feelings and emotions with confidence and without fear. Forming …show more content…
She suffers from early stages of dementia. About three months ago she moved from daughter’s house to live with the son. Her son and daughters do not get along and there is a history of one accusing the other for not having her best interest at heart. I visited with a social work colleague to ascertain if she was aware and in agreement of this out of the borough move. Mrs D can only communicate in Punjabi language. I needed to draw on my bilingual skills to break down the language barrier and ensure effective communication, also provide an opportunity for her to take active part in discussion and put her point across in the language she feels comfortable speaking. Lishman (2009:103) points out the possibility of losing the key information when using an interpreter and puts emphasis on the need of choosing an interpreter with the appropriate understanding of social work. Mrs D experiences symptoms of dementia but has been assessed to have mental capacity to make decision around her living arrangements. Our involvement was to ensure that she is making an informed choice and was exercising her right to move with her son without being pressured or forced. Also to ascertain if there was any need for us to assist this move. Mrs D’s son became very angry when questioned about the move and felt that we were interfering in their personal life. His body language and tone of …show more content…
Open questions, active listening and attention are good tools to explore and extract information from service user. Egan(2010) has presented SOLER (S= Square on, O =Open, L= Leaning forward, E= Eye contact, R =Relaxed) approach as good starter of any meetings or an interview with the service user . This approach accompanied by open questions may encourage service user to open up and be comfortable during the conversation. At the same time some aspects of SOLER approach require balance depending on the type of conversation. Too much eye contact and leaning forward can be interpreted as rude or disturbing for some service users. It may not be culturally appropriate in some cultures or religions. Therefore it is important to have the background knowledge of the service user’s culture, beliefs and abilities. Different cultures have different approaches to eye contact, for examples in Asia and Africa extended eye contact can be taken as an insult or challenge to authority. Similarly, in Arab culture, only brief eye contact is permitted or seen appropriate between men and women (Scudder: 2014). Some people who experience Autism avoid eye contact and it may cause anxiety and stress (Stewart: no date). SOLER model was used in the interaction with Mrs D, but with adjustments to suite her culture and beliefs. This helped to obtain Information regarding her wishes and future plans. She wanted to move with
The person’s care I have chosen to analyse is that of a 65 year old female, for the purpose of confidentiality she will immediately be known throughout as Mary (NMC 2008). Mary was admitted to the continuing care unit where I was placed. Although Mary had come into the unit as a new admission, she has been known by the trust the unit resides in for over 10 years. Mary has only one known relative, her next of kin whom was married to her deceased brother. Mary was admitted as an informal patient, meaning she had not been sectioned under the Mental Health Act (1983). She was also deemed as having full capacity in regard to the Mental Health Capacity Act (2005).
This year I am most excited about learning how to better communicate with children and being able to see how communication changes depending on their stage of development. I’m excited to learn how to accurately take blood pressure and other vital signs like pulse and respiration. As well as, being able to identify any values that are abnormal. I am also eager to learn how to appropriately express these abnormal finds to my young patients without igniting fear.
This assignment will give a reflective account of two main communication skills that are important for relationship-based practice in social work. Relationship based practice is important in social work, this establishes a positive relationship with professionals and service users. In agreement of Carl Rogers (2012) and Threvithick (2012) it is vital to establish relationship based practice because it demonstrates social workers are trustworthy and dependable, this will enable the service users feel more confident to disclose information, be more open rather than distrustful and taking all the support in consideration rather than being wary. Relationship based practice supports unpretentious approach with service users and carries out progressive
Tuckman stages of group interaction such as forming, storming, norming, performing (Pearson Education, 2013). One of the most important reasons we communicate is to build relationships, effective communication in work setting can affect every aspect of our work and who you work with, including colleagues, parents and children in several ways. It can help build our relationship and trust with line manager, team leaders, colleagues, parents and children and thus, it helps develop our role within the workplace in order to establishes, maintain and adjust relationships in work
I am currently in placement in a care home which provides long term care for elderly individuals. Following the Data Protection Act 1998, in order to preserve confidentiality, for the purpose of this activity the resident shall be referred to as Grace. Having assessed a number of residents needs I came to the conclusion that this individual would benefit most from this activity. The reasons for which I will outline below. Grace is an 87 year old female resident with a current diagnosis of mixed type dementia. Grace’s diagnosis of mixed dementia has resulted in a decline in her cognitive ability, especially her memory recall. This has also resulted in Grace being deemed to be a vulnerable adult and she has been placed on an Adults with Incapacity Act 2000 declaration. In order for Grace to be treated with a person-centred holistic care approach, I will work with Grace to develop a scrap book containing pictures and stories about her life. The aims of the activity are; to engage Grace in a mentally stimulating activity which provides for all of her dimensions of health and needs which are; Physical, psychological, social, societal, emotional and spiritual. (WHO, 2011)
On my first day of the placement, Mrs X was introduced to me by a senior member of staff, he explained to me that Mrs X is an 83-year-old lady, and has Glaucoma, and Presbycusis, commonly known as an age-related hearing loss. Due to the deterioration in her sight and vision, she found day to day living on her own becoming more challenging, therefore, this resulted in her coming to live in the care home in 2013. He went on to explain that; Mrs X displays behaviour that challenges: shouting, hitting out, and refusing any assistance. Furthermore, the behaviour she displays is aimed at the newer members of staff.
Trevithick, P (2005). Social Work Skills a practice handout. (2nd ed). Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Working with others and improving own learning and performance are highly essential skills in social work. In this essay I will reflect on how well I have developed these two skills and what I need to do to improve them.
Social work practice requires many skills, which need much practice themselves. This needs social work students to be open to trying within safe environments and scenario’s for mistake, such as with their peers and with emotional safe scenarios such as stress at University. This begins with a requirement to do 5 minutes of interviewing with a peer which includes many social work skills such as active listening, encouraging, paraphrasing, being/creating a welcoming and safe environment and other such basic and beginning skills.
The reason for our client’s referral to the social work department was due to Lori's fear of following down the same path as her mother in staying content with her husband’s behaviour. Lori’s
It cannot be described in such narrow terms within social work because of the different techniques involved in working with different service users in a multitude of situations. Language and Communication is the 5 Standard in NASW Cultural Standard Indicator. Communication is one of the biggest factors within the social work practice. Communication is such a vague word and can’t be defined within narrow terms because there so many different techniques involved. When communicating with my clients the fundamentals are communication which are voice, body language, hearing observing encouraging and remembering are key thing that I would be apply and be mindful while communicating with my clients. For example and ethical dilemma I may come across is communicating with families for the first time, introducing myself , informing them on details about their case, assess them,refer them to service etc they may not responding accordingly which could be difficult but would reassure them to remain calm and to better explain I’m here to help them in way of
Today’s skills session on social work interviewing skills covered the uniqueness of social work interviewing in comparison to interviews conducted in professions such as the police, doctors, employers, etc. It covered also different types of questioning and how to paraphrase. Another area covered was, what to avoid when interviewing a service user and the use of silence. I leant that interview skills are fundamental in social work and social work interviewing is unique. Social workers empathize with clients because of their knowledge of the client group and the need of help to alleviate their problems. Empathy however does not equate accepting that the client is right in what they have done or that the social worker is condoning their actions. Empathy relates to the issue of ‘trusting’ and ‘believing’ the client. In as much as a social worker should seek to establish trust in the relationship, this does not necessarily mean they should believe
As a social worker it is important to have basic communication skills in order to connect with clients. There are six basic and four advanced skills that are used in direct practice to make communication more effective. The basic skills include reflection of feelings, paraphrasing, open ended questions, closed ended questions, clarification and attending behaviors. Advanced skills consist of summarization, information giving, interpretation and confrontation. Not only is it important to know what these skills are, it is also important to know what the appropriate and inappropriate uses are. It is also important to self-reflect on your use of these skills, and whether it is a strength or something to continue to work to improve on.
Effective communication skill is one of the most crucial components of a social worker’s job. Good communication skills help to build a relationship between the worker and client. Social workers need to communicate well with clients and other professionals in order to access relevant information. Communication in the therapeutic process usually consists of verbal and non-verbal interaction between the worker and the client. The Social Worker uses communication techniques in therapy sessions with the client and also teaches communication techniques to the client, such as I messages, assertiveness, reflection etc.
...tention to how people react to one another’s comments, guessing the relationship between the people and guessing how each feels about what is being said. This can inform individuals to better understand the use of body language when conversing with other people. It is also important to take into account individual differences. Different cultures use different non-verbal gestures. Frequently, when observing these gestures alone the observer can get the wrong impression, for instance, the listener can subconsciously cross their arms. This does not mean that they are bored or annoyed with the speaker; it can be a gesture that they are comfortable with. Viewing gestures as a whole will prevent these misunderstandings. Non-verbal gestures are not only physical, for example; the tone of voice addressing a child will be different from the way it is addressed to an adult.