Creating negative impressions on service users

Learning Objectives

After considering this resource, you should understand how ineffective communication can significantly impact the building and maintaining of relationships with service users.

Person with head in their hands

As Lishman (2009, p.75) states, 'Building and maintaining relationships underpin any intervention in social work...' and in order to create successful alliances with service users, you will be required to display a number of different skills (Lishman, 2009, p.76):

  • Genuineness
  • Warmth and acceptance
  • Encouragement and approval
  • Empathy
  • Responsiveness

Each service user is different as are their stories and as a result, you will learn to become adept at utilising these different qualities in different ways at different times with different people. The outcome will ideally be consistent though - that through the employment of these different skills, you will build an effective relationship with the service user so that you are able to provide them with the support they need in the circumstances they find themselves in.

Sharon's son, Samuel is 7 and was born with severe disabilities. In the following case study, she talks about the negative experience she is having with her current social worker, Joanna and the lack of relationship between them.

Download: Audio transcript

Reflective Questions

  1. Sharon mentioned she had seen Joanna looking at the clock during a meeting. If you are rushed for time, how should you approach this with the service user?
  2. What non-verbal communication could Joanna use when meeting Sharon to help build a relationship?
  3. How might Joanna have rephrased her comments during the discussion about respite care to allow Sharon to correct her assumptions?
  4. How might Joanna have used empathy effectively when Sharon was upset about Samuel's hospital admission?

Reference:
J Lishman (2009) Communication in Social Work, 2nd edition. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Case studies