Social Work and Reflective Communication

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Social Work and Reflective Communication
Lecture 6 PART TWO Basic interpersonal
communication skills (Part Two) Self-monitoring Sl
ides prepared by Dr Trish McNamara
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Self awareness

• Becoming attuned to ones thoughts
• Becoming attuned to ones feelings
• Being aware of ones beliefs values and life
  experience
• Being in touch with ones culture and subculture
• Getting in touch with how one is perceived by
  others
• Acknowledging ones strengths personal and
  professional
• Identifying areas for personal growth and change
• Identifying areas for professional growth and
  change

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Self consciousness

• The impact of the steep learning curve
• Doing things differently feeling silly
• the centipede becoming aware of all of its legs
  (Allen Ivey)
• Not knowing
• Getting it a bit wrong/ very wrong

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Bear in mind

• We tend to notice our discomfort more than others
• We can usually repair interpersonal helping that
  goes wrong
• Service users are remarkably forgiving
  generosity of spirit

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Practice wisdom

• Skills based on what works in practice?
• an anecdotal ragbag of folk remedies? (Pinker
  1990 64 cited in Trevithick, 2005) On the spot
  answers about difficult dilemmas where practice
  is ahead of theory
• Difficult to evaluate

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Self monitoring

• Get in touch with your own stress levels
• Pace yourself
• Take time out for reflection and for relaxation
• Use humour
• Notice changes in thoughts, feelings and
  behaviours
• Actively seek guidance and support formal and
  informal

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Taking nothing for granted

• Always check out the level of common
  understanding
• Be tentative about first and even much later
  impressions
• Dont give important information at the end of a
  session
• Follow up with a letter if necessary
• Check that basic needs are being met (Maslows
  Hierarchy) material aid???

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Service users interpretations

• Voluntary agencies staffed by volunteers,
  people with no experience
• Sensitive tender and sore
• Eligibility a good marriage catch
• Common (as in commonly accepted values)
  cheap and nasty
• Gender most people did not know this term
• Criteria most people did know this term
• Function- wedding, party, funeral
• Social Services Inspectorate, 199120 cited in
  Trevithick , 2005

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Reflecting on thoughts

• Relating theory to practice keep working on
  links
• Staying neutral
• Staying curious
• Staying surprised)
• Making space for thinking

revisit Donald Schon The Reflective Practitioner
(1991)
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Reflecting on actions

• Notice when communication seems to work well
• Reflect on why this is so!
• When things get stuck, you are confused or
  uncomfortable, reflect on why these things are
  happening.?
• Always be mindful of contextual issues race,
  culture,ethnicity, culture, subculture
  especially when difference is involved!

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Reflecting on feelings

• Try to practice self monitoring feelings in
  everyday life
• Keep a journal or diary
• When communication seems to be swift, effective
  and helpful reflect on why this is so..
• When things get stuck, you are confused or
  uncomfortable, reflect on why these things are
  happening.?

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Getting feedback

• Confirmatory
• Corrective
• Motivating
• Egan, 1990 Adler and Rodman, 2006

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Giving feedback

• Start with the positives
• Stay tentative, neutral and curious
• Affirm
• Validate
• Empower
• Motivate
• Challenge if necessary

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Getting practice with interpersonal skills

• Use your peers
• Use video recording and playback
• Consider volunteer counselling training
• Watch training tapes in library as a group if
  possible and discuss
• Experiment, experiment, experiment with some
  safe risk-taking !
• Take care with using partners and other family
  members!

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