Primary and Least Used Personal Relationship Skills In the helping professions, it makes sense there are certain skills that are required of all human service workers. Mehr & Kanwischer (2011) divide these skills into two categories: being and doing. As I reflect on my life, both past and present, I believe the skills which fall under “being” tend to be ones I have naturally possessed, whereas skills that fall under “doing” are ones that I have learned to utilize over time. Upon further self-evaluation of skills included in being, I find that I am most comfortable approaching others with warmth and empathy. Warmth is described as a nonjudgmental attitude which avoids blame and does not place conditions on the relationship (Mehr & Kanwischer, …show more content…
As I reflect on my abilities in these areas, I find I most frequently utilize the skills of paraphrase, reflection, an nonverbal communication. These skills have not always come natural to me but are ones I have learned to place considerable emphasis on when communicating. Paraphrasing, or rephrasing the words the client uses, often communicates to others you are listening and allows the opportunity for correction (Mehr & Kanwischer, 2011). I have found this to be a useful tool in working with individuals who have a developmental disability. It quickly establishes rapport because it empowers the client to ensure I understand what they are communicating. Likewise, Mehr & Kanwischer (2011) describe reflection as a way to assist a client in being aware of their feelings by hearing what is being said between the lines. I tend to listen both to what a person is telling me as well as what they are insinuating but not saying. I find when I say what someone is unable to find words to explain, an immediate connection happens which helps the person to feel more free to speak openly. Finally, I am continuously aware of nonverbal communication, both in what I am portraying as well as what the other person is displaying. I watch people’s body language, eye contact, and gestures when they are speaking to identify consistency is what they are saying and what they are portraying. It is only natural to assume others make these assumptions of me as well, so I make a conscious effort to ensure I appear open and
Use non-verbal communication such as gesture, facial expression and written communication wherever possible; use pictures, symbols or music to support communication and understanding; not finishing an individual’s sentence unless asked to :avoid negative statements; take care with tone of voice and body language ; be aware of any hearing , visual or second language difficulties; use listening skills to interpret intended meaning
Previous experience of working in the care industry, with adults with a wide range of needs and disabilities, has given me the experience of working with a diverse range of people. I am currently an administrator for a charity whose service users are adults with learning disabilities. Being caring and compassionate has helped build up a strong relationship with the service users, which in turn has helped me gain their trust. This has helped me to be able to develop a better relationship
When I hear a situation, I think about what I would do to make this situation better or how I would handle it. I know that we cannot give advice and the client needs time to process their thoughts and feelings, but most of the time I just want to jump up, give them a hug and say ‘do this it will fix your situations’. To improve this, I would need to remove myself from the situation and not try to think about what I would do. Instead I’d listen to what the client wants when it comes to them processing their thought and issues. Also, I think I have some issues paraphrasing, I feel like when I start to paraphrase, I either end up repeating everything the client said, sounding like a parrot, or I interpret the emotion and build from there.
Human Services workers must have some other qualities as well in order to successfully complete their position in this career. Some of these are but not included are; effective listening and communication, effective organization skills, and good working relationship with others. As I considered Reamer (2006), he goes on...
The communication skills I currently use in the field of social work are as follows:
Beebe, Steven A., Susan J. Beebe, and Mark V. Redmond. "Understanding Self and Others." Interpersonal Communication: Relating to Others. Boston: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson, 2009. 43. Print.
That being I do have good active listening skills, I can reflect back feeling well by not only rewording what the client said but by reading their body language and by the tone of their voice. In the process of developing my listening skills I have been able to use my body language to have the client elaborate on what they were talking about. For the client was talking about a situation in their life and I used my facial expressions to show I wanted to know more about the situation. The client was able to read the expression I was showing them and they did elaborate on the situation they were talking about without me having to verbally ask a
Carl R. Rogers theorized that through providing a certain kind of relationship with the client, one in which empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence were present, the client would “discover within himself the capacity to the relationship for growth, and change and personal development” . As a counselor empathy is essential as it allows me to enter my clients internal frame of reference, while still retaining a problem-solving stance. Entering the client’s internal frame of reference means I must consider the emotions and thoughts of the client, it is similarly vital not to get lost in the internal frame of reference as this creates the distinction between sympathy and empathy. Unconditional positive regard, also called acceptance is essential as it plays a role in creating a helping relationship in which the client feels safe to express any negative emotions or thoughts, while being...
There is expectation to demonstrate core communication skills and the capacity to develop them and ability to engage with people in order to build compassionate and effective relationships (The College of Social Work, 2014). Communication skills are fundamental in social work; every aspect of their role involves communication. In order to communicate effectively, social workers need to be aware of the forms of communication, i.e. non-verbal, verbal, body language and written and understand communication barriers. (Thompson, 2009). In light of this, when communication barriers occur, i.e. someone not understanding English or wanting to discuss their issues, having these skills allows social workers to overcome this, i.e. asking the right questions or putting in place an interpreter. Having effective communication within social work provides a strong base for good professional relationships. Trust is able to be built, providing confidence in both the social worker and service user in meeting, discussing and building upon solutions (Koprowska, 2005). I promoted such skill throughout the interview as I remained aware of my body language, ensuring I was open, faced the carer and remained good eye contact. I was also continuously aware of the carer’s body language, to inform me of how she was feeling. Being mindful of her eye contact, facial expressions and position of body enabled me to realise she was not being responsive in the conversation (Banks, 2006). Being able to identify this, allowed the barrier to be overcome by asking probing questions and engaging her back into the conversation. I provided active listening skills by summarising what the carer expressed, responded accordingly to what was being discussed and nodding to show ...
The verbal communication goal is to encourage the client to fully express the changes and wants of set outcomes established. Both verbal and non- communication can have an impact on the client once interaction is met. Non-verbal communication consists of body language, facial expressions, closeness, and eye contact (Schore, 2008). If a client senses the listener is uninterested or showing signs of discomfort due to their diagnosis or disability, it can cause one to be unengaged in the conversation. Verbal communication can also result in the same disengagement due to the social worker/ therapist tone of voice. Social workers are to be mindful and educated on the background of the client being served to be aware of the different approaches to take when engaging with the individual. The social work intern effective of non-verbal communication skills as the client continued to discuss her life before her recent hospitalization. The social work intern ensured to make steady eye contact, in which the client was receptive of. The social work intern also created a posture that created empathic body language, allowing the client to be more open during
When a person approaches you with conversation, they should always feel comfort knowing they are being listened to. I believe in this generation, even with myself, I sometimes have trouble giving my full attention in certain situations. These days people are so eager to let someone finish speaking so they can say what they want to say, rather than take in what they are being told and respond to it directly. This is something that I believe everyone, including myself should work on. Also, you should acknowledge what someone is telling you and clarify when you are confused in order to avoid making mindless errors which can lead to assumptions, or if you work in a medical work place even cause misdiagnoses or assessments. An example that many people may notice in their daily conversations of non-therapeutic communication is when one person is always changing topics during the conversation to something they’d rather talk about, or even judging others on their opinions especially before they can explain why they see something a certain way. This is a problem with communicating because it is more focused on one person rather than equal communication between two or more
Communication is important in relationships as it allows us to share our interest, concerns, support each other; organize our lives and make decisions; and it allows us to work together. Effective communication is based on the way we talk and listen, how we respond and our body language. We can all learn how to improve the way we communicate.
Communication is something we all humans use. Communication “is the sharing of information between individuals by using speech”. People have ways of communicating some have their weaknesses in conversations and others have their strengths. When I communicate with others I feel that some things I say I do not verbalize right. I have two strengths and three weaknesses in my communicating. My three weakens in my communication are, check nonverbal feedback, to make people wrong and recognize that people understand information in different ways and my two strengths in my communication are being flexible, and take responsibility for the communication.
During our lifetime, many relationships are formed with family, friends, and significant others. These relationships are key to forming friends, work bonds and intimate connections with others. Family, friends and intimate relationships are necessary for everyday life, below I am going to discuss interpersonal relationships with each and challenges that may come.
The success of any relationship relies on the ability to communicate well. Communication is important in all relationships as it allows us to share our interests, concerns, and support of each other. It helps us to organize our lives and make decisions; and it allows us to work together. Effective communication is based on the way we talk and listen, how we respond as well as our body language. We can all learn how to improve the way we communicate because it takes more than words to create a safe, exciting and secure relationship. All too often the signals we send are not those we intend to send, and when this happens, both the connection and trust are lost in our relationships.