When you work in a residential home, you need good communication skills. This is essential to gain the residents trust, learn about their needs and to make them feel at ease. Our aim is to take care of these residents and make them feel comfortable and to do so involves interacting with them. Communication can also help with recording medical needs and writing plans of care. It comes in a variety of forms and contexts that fall into either verbal or non-verbal communication.
There are various contexts of communication, for example; one-to-one, group, formal and informal, between colleagues, communication with professionals and multi-agency working. One-to-one communication is when one person is communicating with another with no one else joining in. An example of this is a one-to-one job interview; typically the interviewer will try to make you feel comfortable. Group communication can only be possible is everyone is able to be involved. Most groups consist of people who talk a lot and people who rarely speak. People may speak less if they feel uncomfortable talking in front of groups of people. Group communication is at its element when there is a clear team leader who encourages everyone to have a say. Informal and formal communications are two very different things. You tend to use informal communication with people like your family and friends and also children. It’s a more relaxed way of talking and communicating with one another. Formal communication is usually used in a professional working environment. This is when no slang or abbreviations are used; it’s likely that you will be taken more seriously when communicating in a formal manner.
Communication