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29 Edith Chaparro, LCSW - 917-683-8601 @ Communication Techniques 1) Reflection: By reflecting feelings back to a client, you are acknowledging their feelings. Ex. Client- “I don’t know where to begin; everything is happening all at once™ Therapist “you seem overwhelmed”. 2) Active Listening- A technique focused on both verbal and nonverbal communications. Body language and facial expressions that demonstrate openness and attentiveness should be used. 3) ***Exploring silence: Being attentive and remaining silent during the time when the client is silent. SILENCE EQUALS SILENCE 4) Paraphrasing: Re-statement of the client’s statements demonstrating that the social worker understood what the client was conveying. Client: “Whenever I go to the nursing home to visit my mother, I start to cry and I feel like I cant breathe™ Social Worker: “It sounds like you are saying that your mother in the nursing home is very difficult for you. 5) Clarification: Asking the client questions encouraging him to be more explicit and to expand on what he is saying. This helps in obtaining a clear understanding of the client’s issues. Client: “I don’t want to give up the baby. I want to find him a family that can give him everything he wants” Social Worker: “I'm not sure that I understand. Are you saying that you want to keep the baby, but you don’t think you can afford to?” G®Partialization: Taking a client’s overwhelming and seemingly insolvable thoughts and statements, and breaking them up into smaller more manageable parts. EX. Prioritizing clients’ problems. 7) Confrontation: challenging an ESTABLISHED CLIENT to think about discrepancies in what s/he says or does, maladaptive behaviors (addictions or perpetrators), or resistance to treatment ex. frequently missed appointments, frequent lateness, avoiding. Confrontation is NOT aggressive ~ 8) Encouragement: phrases ex. “go on” and “tell me more” to encourage the client to continue speaking. COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES ~ QUIZ Example: 1. A social worker is referred a Hispanic client who is not proficient in English. The social worker begins to explain confidentiality and the client begins to appear angry. The BEST action for the social worker is A- Find a staff member who speaks Spanish — KW- unethical — and he not proficient B- Ask the client to tell you why he is angry-KW-don’t assume — he “appears angry” C-Provide the client with written literature on confidentiality-DISTRATOR - GIVE LITERATURE D- Ask the client to tell you in his own words what had been discussed-CHOOSE- RUSAFE - ASSESS-ASK