(PDF) Developing your communication skills in social work
Added on 2021-05-30
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Running head: COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SOCIAL WORK AND HUMAN SERVICES1Communication Skills in Social Work and Human Services (Author’s name)(Institutional Affiliation)
COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SOCIAL WORK AND HUMAN SERVICES 2 Discussion Working as a social worker is one of the most challenging yet rewarding career options. A social worker is usually responsible for helping groups, families and individuals cope with the challenges that they are facing in order to improve their welfare. For one to be an effective social worker, he/she needs to have effective active listening skills. This is important largely due to the fact that a good social worker needs to be able understand the demands, needs and problem of the individual that they are aiding.Other than being able to communicate effectively, a social worker needs to have high level training for him or her to interact with the patient (person being cared for). For a social worker to be effective in executing his/her responsibilities, he/she needs to be trained in different areas that deal with client interaction. Some of the areas that a social worker needs training in include communication skills, sensitivity training and decision making skills. This will help the social worker in developing a solution that best serves the needs of the individual. This paperprovides an in depth analysis of social worker listening skills through a comprehensive interview with a social worker. Interview 1. What exactly does a social worker does and what are your key responsibilities as a social worker? A social worker is a professional who works to enhance the overall well-being and social functioning of individuals, groups, families and communities. The term socio functioning in this definition is used to refer to the manner through which individuals go around there social roles and the different structural institutions provided to help them. Social work is usually divided into micro and macro- work. Micro-work refers to social work that focuses
COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN SOCIAL WORK AND HUMAN SERVICES 3on working directly with individuals or small groups. Macro-work on the other hand relates to social work that focuses on working with large groups or communities and within a predefined social policy with the objective of creating change on a larger scale. Due to the diverse nature of social and individual problems, there are different categories of social workthat one can engage in. The five most common categories of social workers are family, child and school social workers, medical social workers, substance abuse and mental health social workers, community social workers, and military social workers. Personally I work as a Mental health and substance abuse social worker. Under my profession, my main responsibility is working with groups, families couples and individuals to provide them with treatment for substance abuse and mental illness. Some of the treatment options that I employ in my profession include counseling and intense therapy and I had to attain a MSW to start in this career. 2. What skills does a social worker possess? In dealing with the diverse range of problems, social workers must employ different skills based on the nature of the task at hand. Even though some skills that social workers employ are naturally acquired, a significant percentage of the skill used are developed through training programs that social workers engage in while pursuing their bachelor’s or master’s degree. There are a lot of skills that a social worker can employ when working with a patient/client. I will just highlight what I consider to be the most important skills. Active listening- This entails giving ones full attention to what another individual is saying, with the aims of understanding the points that are being made by the other party. To achieve this one should ask questions that are appropriate to the conversation and not interrupt the communicator.
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