Reflective Account on Communication

Reflective Account on Communication Name: Institution: Introduction Social workers deal with human inconsistencies and failures that create many barriers that the workers are required to overcome so that they can do their jobs well. It is important to note that the relationship which is established between a social worker and a client helps in promoting engagement with the families. Sometimes, circumstances may complicate the establishment of a helping relationship, and this demands the worker to counter these challenges by developing better and reliable techniques for engaging the families. This task will use the Johns Model of reflection where the nurses are provided with cues to enable them access, make sense and learn from experience. The cues may include description of an experience, reflection, influencing factors and leaning. This paper will examine and explain issues which may hinder effective engagement with a social worker and will also describe how understanding these may impact a social worker. Communication skills are essential components of a social worker’s job. Social workers are required to communicate with their clients to gain information, convey critical information and make important decisions. Verbal communication skills forms the basis of interaction between the worker and the client (Holland, 2000). Without these skills, social workers may not be able to communicate effectively, and this is likely to cause detrimental effects on their clients. A social worker normally begins by encouraging the family members to talk which is vital in gaining access to reliable and trustworthy information (Lynch, Newlands & Forrester, 2019). Sometimes family members may fail to engage with a social worker as a result of fear, and in this cases, a social work professional should show empathy to reduce client resistance in disclosing information (Forrester, Kershaw, Moss & Hughes, 2008). This made me realize how important it is for social workers to maintain empathic communication while interacting with their patients and families. The language barrier is also a significant problem which is encountered by many social workers. Usually, this issue occurs in a multicultural society where there is no common language (Bø, 2015). Whenever the clients are unable to express themselves, professionals in social work find it challenging to understand them and this is likely to cause misunderstanding and frustrations which can undermine the objectives of the specialist. To overcome this issue, social workers are required to rely on translators who help them in conducting conversation which their clients. This option may sometimes cause problems because professional terms are hard to translate and sometimes the transistors may misinterpret the meaning conveyed and this is likely to distort the message (Westlake & Jones, 2018). This indicates the need for a social worker to learn skills for managing and controlling interpreter-mediated sessions as well as familiarizing him or herself with the language of the client as this may help in promoting effective communication (Negi et al. 2010). Also, people may find it hard to develop trust in the professional in social work mainly because of their past experiences. Therefore, it is ...