Communication skills diary - Essay Example

I felt this was extremely important due to the group members having different views and beliefs; every opinion counts and should be respected. This counts in everyday life. I felt extremely anxious in today’s session being surrounded by new faces, new views and new boundaries. I found this challenging. I understood through my training and career that I will be faced with these feelings and thoughts as I progress. Through my training, I will gain coping mechanisms and strategies to help me perform to the best of my ability in the different situations I will encounter in my career.

I enjoyed working within the small groups for the exercises, as I felt I had the opportunity to learn about my peers and gain knowledge from their beliefs and experiences. I felt the smaller group being more personal. I am aware that I have a lot of work to do with my communication skills as I am interrupted from time to time and talk with people. I noticed in one of the group exercises that I did that. I will now consider this for future exercises and life in general. Week 2 08/10/2013 Hearing listening, and attending avoiding oppressive practice I really valued today because of the activity and group work.

The group participated in an activity where each individual introduced themselves and the person next to them whilst divulging one fact about themselves and the other person. I found it quite enjoyable being in a small group setting, which made me feel comfortable. At times when in the presence of a lot of people, I found it hard to open up and talk about my feelings and thoughts and I did not always listen to others. A few basic skills involved in listening include being as open, intuitive, empathetic and self-aware as possible, maintaining good eye contact, having open and attentive body orientation of posture and being as relaxed and natural as possible”(Trevithick, 2010, p. 123). I realised from reflecting back on my own practise that the minimal encouragers I give when interacting with an individual represent one of the qualities I possess.

I felt as if I had a lot to take on board as putting together all the different communication skills was challenging. Having reflected back on the previous week’s entry I feel I made an effort to sit back, listen and not interrupt or talk over others as I have identified this as being a key issue in my case. Week 3 15/10/2013 Giving and receiving feedback emotional resilience I valued today’s session as the group spoke about receiving feedback. We split up into groups of three performing role-play and carrying out interviews of social workers, service users and an observer.

I found this exercise a bit difficult since I have learnt it is extremely important to sit back, listen and be non-judgemental. Building and maintaining relationships, attending and listening is part of the core skills, which are essential to underpin assessment and the range of methods of intervention, used in social work (Lishman, 2009). Reflecting back to the previous weeks, I have realised I am still finding it difficult not interrupting others. I am aware that this will take some time to overcome since breaking any habit is a challenge.

However, I do feel that I am settling in to the group and finding it easier to talk in front of the class; this is building up my confidence, which is a great improvement. In this