Professional Communication Skills

1630 Words4 Pages

Effective communication is essential when working with a client. There are many ways a communication can go wrong. Good communication is a major component of collaboration and collaborating with the client is what a professional should be working towards. The purpose of this discussion is to demonstrate effective communication using one scenario. The scenario, in this case, is as follows: “"Elvita has decided to leave an abusive relationship, but she feels guilty leaving her abuser's children behind. She talks about how she knows that once she leaves, she cannot have any more contact with the children; and she is worried about how that will affect these children whom she has come to love and wants to protect." (Summers, 2009, p. 149) Effective communication will be demonstrated by identifying good responses and poor responses, listening and responding, asking questions, bringing up difficult issues, addressing and disarming anger, and the effective combination of skills. Good communication skills are a highly important skill for any professional, especially those who work with directly with clients on a daily basis. Since each client is an individual, the worker may need to approach communication in a different manner. However, there are good ways to respond to a client and there are bad ways to respond to a client. In the scenario, Elvita brings up that she feels guilty leaving her abusers children behind and that once she leaves her contact with the children would be cut off. Furthermore, she is concerned as to how her leaving will affect the children. What if the worker’s response was, “Are you going to stay there and continue to be abused? There is little point in worrying about children that are not your ... ... middle of paper ... ...estions will give the client an opportunity to express and elaborate on her feelings. The worker should listen to the content, but also understand the underlying feelings. As important as the content might be, the client’s feelings are even more important. The ability to listen, ask questions, bring up difficult issues, disarm anger and give appropriate responses in combination is what a Human service worker should be able to do in order to effectively communicate with a client. References: Smith, M. and Segal, J. (2010). Domestic Violence and Abuse: Signs of Abuse and Abusive Relationships. Retrieved November 21, 2011, from HELPGUIDE.org: http://helpguide.org/mental/domestic_violence_abuse_types_signs_causes_effects.htm Summers, N. (2009). Fundamentals of case management practice: skills for the human services, 3rd Edition. Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.

Open Document