Communication in Social Work

Book excerpt: Effective communication is a vital part of the social worker's job. This welcome new edition of a classic text provides students and practitioners with essential advice and guidance about communicating and interacting in a range of social work settings. Based on the author's extensive personal and teaching experience, the text offers a succint introduction to a variety of communication techniques, including symbolic, non-verbal, verbal, written and electronic forms of communication. Importantly, it discusses the perspectives of service users and explores their experiences and interpretations of how a social worker looks, acts and speaks, thus giving a real insight into the implicit messages being conveyed. New to this edition are Putting it into Practice activities and further reading suggestions, designed to support learning and understanding and to enable readers to reflect critically for practice. Written in an appealing narrative style that cannot fail to draw the reader in, Communication in Social Work is an engaging and comprehensive book suitable both for social work and social care students and for newly qualified practitioners wanting to refresh their thinking and skills.