Communication Skills That Social Workers Need to Develop and Use to Meet the Needs of Service Users

3600 Words15 Pages
In this Essay, I will be demonstrating my understanding of the communication skills that social workers need to develop and use to meet the needs of service users. I will identify strengths and weaknesses from the case study in relation to communication and will discuss how they can be improved. I will also identify knowledge and theories that was or could have been used to inform practice. This TMA will reflect mainly on the case study of Roy and how the social worker Rosie worked in assessing the needs of the service user Roy. It will also show that I reflect on my experiences of using knowledge and skills and how they have helped my own social work practice. I will evaluate the relevance and impact the areas had on my practice and how it helped me develop a better understanding of the individuals I worked with. I’ll reflect on how my learning from these experiences has helped my understanding of service users and the contexts in which they live. I will use Kolb’s (1984) theory of experiential learning i.e. the cycle of learning to enable me to develop my own understanding and as a reflective practitioner I can link this with Schon’s (1983) concepts of reflecting in action and reflecting on action to help improve my actions and professional practice and show that I evaluate my experiences and integrate it to theory and knowledge in supervision (Aids to Practice cards, Values and Ethics, p112). The relevant skill to use with the case study service user is communication. I will start explaining its relevance by looking at why it is an important skill for all social workers to use in their practice. In Block 1 of K113 we heard a number of service users and practitioners talk about examples of good and bad social work. They highlighted that a good social worker makes you feel important, works in partnership with you, gains your confidence, is straight talking
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