a. What effective communication styles and skills have you observed between social workers and clients? How can you learn these skills?
I have observed effective communication between a social worker and a client each time I participate in a session with an experienced social worker. I have observed several communication skills on many different occasions including active listening, taking turns, using open ended questions, paraphrasing, and summarizing skills between social workers and clients to name just a few. While sitting in on sessions with my field instructor I often times find myself amazed at her ability to always say the right thing at the right time, to ask the best questions at the best time, and to lead a client to a targeted …show more content…
I have sat in with several different staff members up to this point in the practicum and I find myself focused on the strengths of the social worker rather than the pitfalls, but I have definitely noticed some. I feel like a majority of the pitfalls occur due to the high caseloads that staff members have which limits the amount of time that they have to accomplish all that they can as quickly as they can. There are many ways that I can avoid the ineffective communication skills including scheduling an accurate amount of time for each client, arriving on time, focusing only on the client that I am with at the moment, and not assuming anything. I often times here social workers assume things because they have had a similar experience in the past. I can avoid this pitfall by acknowledging every client has their own situation and …show more content…
Communication will be enhanced as differences are identified and acknowledged allowing the client to understand my willingness and intent to understand. Communicating with diverse clients will also increase my cultural competence as I learn from the clients and the client gain an increased understanding of my desire to understand them. Diversity in gender may allow a client to express their thoughts and feelings more openly or have increased trust for the social worker which will allow the social worker to work more effectively with the client. Special training in areas such as cultural competency will enhance the communication between the social worker and client in several different ways including increased knowledge and understanding of the client’s experiences, values, and beliefs. On the other hand different form of diversity may limit my ability to communicate with agency clients because of language barriers that may exist. Language barriers can lead to misunderstanding of terminology, body language, and an increased amount of time spent attempting to understand one another. Diversity in age, gender, life experiences, and special training may lead to a lack of trust and honesty in the communication. All types of diversity may impact the willingness to listen to one another and may listen the motivation
I have observed effective communication between a social worker and a client each time I participate in a session with an experienced social worker. I have observed several communication skills on many different occasions including active listening, taking turns, using open ended questions, paraphrasing, and summarizing skills between social workers and clients to name just a few. While sitting in on sessions with my field instructor I often times find myself amazed at her ability to always say the right thing at the right time, to ask the best questions at the best time, and to lead a client to a targeted …show more content…
I have sat in with several different staff members up to this point in the practicum and I find myself focused on the strengths of the social worker rather than the pitfalls, but I have definitely noticed some. I feel like a majority of the pitfalls occur due to the high caseloads that staff members have which limits the amount of time that they have to accomplish all that they can as quickly as they can. There are many ways that I can avoid the ineffective communication skills including scheduling an accurate amount of time for each client, arriving on time, focusing only on the client that I am with at the moment, and not assuming anything. I often times here social workers assume things because they have had a similar experience in the past. I can avoid this pitfall by acknowledging every client has their own situation and …show more content…
Communication will be enhanced as differences are identified and acknowledged allowing the client to understand my willingness and intent to understand. Communicating with diverse clients will also increase my cultural competence as I learn from the clients and the client gain an increased understanding of my desire to understand them. Diversity in gender may allow a client to express their thoughts and feelings more openly or have increased trust for the social worker which will allow the social worker to work more effectively with the client. Special training in areas such as cultural competency will enhance the communication between the social worker and client in several different ways including increased knowledge and understanding of the client’s experiences, values, and beliefs. On the other hand different form of diversity may limit my ability to communicate with agency clients because of language barriers that may exist. Language barriers can lead to misunderstanding of terminology, body language, and an increased amount of time spent attempting to understand one another. Diversity in age, gender, life experiences, and special training may lead to a lack of trust and honesty in the communication. All types of diversity may impact the willingness to listen to one another and may listen the motivation