Difficult Conversations – Dealing with anger
In the final part of this ‘trilogy’ of difficult conversations articles I want to look at anger. Firstly, it’s worth saying that this may not just be the anger of the other...
Tag: communication
Difficult Conversations – Advanced Skills
In the previous article we considered some initial thoughts about what to bear in mind when approaching a difficult conversation. Always be mindful as I said that good relationships are the foundation of...
Difficult Conversations – some initial thoughts
When it comes to conversations in Social Work practice, particularly difficult ones, we have to start with the question “What are we trying to achieve?” What is the problem we are trying...
Language and Power in Social Work, a fresh perspective from the Philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein
Social work can be seen as an endeavour of attempting to grasp at another person’s reality. We assess people and families striving to be as faithful as possible. In this article I...
Getting to grips with theory: Transactional analysis
I honestly don’t know why but I’m a huge fan of ideas and theories that emerged in the late 50’s and 60’s. It was certainly a time when ideas about the importance...
Stop talking, start listening!
As social workers and social work students we understand, I suspect, the importance of effective communication and spend a lot of time thinking about what we should say and how we should...
Communication – The Impact of Context
Communication is absolutely fundamental to social work practice. As well as communication taking place between individuals it also takes place within specific contexts. This is about environment but also the contextual framework...
Communication – the bedrock of practice
Communication skills are the bedrock of social work practice in all situations – when working with service users or their carers, presenting a case in court or at panel, or liaising with...
Communication & Eye Contact
I love the Pelican Originals, which were published by Penguin from the ’30s to the ’80’s. I’ve got myself a little collection that I’m building; I love the blue spines and the...
Communication & Dementia
Effective communication is paramount in working with a person with dementia where verbal communication may have declined (expressive ability) and where comprehension of language may be difficult (receptive ability). Communication cannot be...