SOCIAL WORK COMMUNICATION AND DOCUMENTATION

Communication skills

Communication is by definition interactive and always takes place within a relationship.

Communication is context-related

Systems theory - view communication as an interactive phenomenon in which participants

continually influence each other.

Types of Communication Skills

 First-order skills - are those required in direct communication itself, with service users,
colleagues, and others.
 Second-order skills - are those employed in planning our communication strategy, thinking about
what we are doing, observing interactions, paying attention to feedback, reviewing what has
happened, and modifying our next and future communications accordingly.

People are infinitely creative with the sounds they use in conversation.

Arbitrary Sign – the reliable relationship between words and the things they represent

“Good communication skills are essential to any form of social work practice, from therapeutic
interventions through to the most mundane bureaucratic activities” Koprowska, J.

Communication undoubtedly ‘comes naturally’ to human beings, since we are a social species: we
seek out the company of other human beings and rely upon our connections with each other for both
our physical and psychological well-being.
We do not learn language solely by imitation; we absorb and apply the rules which govern the use of
language early in our learning. Stephen Pinker (1999)
Communication just is and is happening all the time when people are together. Every social situation
entails communication and therefore calls up communication skills. Watzlawick 1967