Table of Contents

Introduction
Acceptance
Active Listening
Advising
Advocacy
Anti-discriminatory Practice
Assertiveness
Assessment
Barriers to Good Communication
Breaking Bad News
Chairing Meetings
Challenging
Communication and Social Media
Complaints
Confidentiality
Conflict Management
Counselling
Court Room Skills
Ecomaps
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
Empathy
Empowerment, Resilience and a Strengths Perspective
Endings
Establishing a Professional Relationship
Feedback – Giving and Receiving
Genograms
Getting Unstuck
Group Work
Information & Communication Technology (ICT) and Health Informatics
Interpreters
Interprofessional Collaboration
Interviewing Children
Labyrinths
Learning Difficulties
Loss
Mediation Skills
Mindfulness
Motivational Interviewing
Non-verbal Communication
Overcoming Fears and Anxieties
Professional Capabilities Framework (PCF)
Reflective Practice
Religion
Spirituality
Suicide
Supervision
Talks and Presentations
Telephone Skills
Time Management
Tricky Topics: Sexuality and Death
Whistle Blowing
Wrong Messages

About the Author

Bernard Moss was Emeritus Professor of Social Work Education and Spirituality at Staffordshire University. He was responsible for teaching communication skills to social work students for over a decade. His highly interactive and experiential approach to teaching gave students an opportunity to take responsibility for their own learning and development as trainee practitioners. His teaching excellence was recognised by the Higher Education Academy UK, who in 2004 awarded him a National Teaching Fellowship, in 2007 a Senior Fellowship, and in 2013 Principal Fellowship status.

He was part of the working group established by the Social Care Institute for Excellence to prepare a report on the literature on communication skills for social work, and also produced a DVD on the use of large-group role play in higher education. He was one of only three UK university teachers to be invited to contribute a chapter to the prestigious international publication Inspiring Academics: Learning with the World’s Great University Teachers, published in 2011 by the Open University Press.

He published widely on the theme of spirituality, for which he was awarded a PhD by Staffordshire University in 2011. His book on Spirituality and Social Work, co-authored with Professor Margaret Holloway in 2010, has been widely acclaimed.

In 2016 he co-authored with Dr Jan Sellers an international book on the use of labyrinths in Higher Education ( Learning with the Labyrinth: Creating Reflective Space in Higher Education. Palgrave) and the contribution that labyrinth walks can make to enrich the learning and teaching process for students and staff, as well as enhancing their general well-being.

 

Reviews

This is an excellent book for those students who want to explore and understand different themes in relation to developing effective communication skills. The book covers such a broad area this in an excellent reference book for those students and practitioners who want to develop their communication sills further. The author has put together helpful activities in each chapter which help develop the key themes. This would be one of my go to books as a student or a practitioner when I was thinking about how I communicate and would be something I would keep in my bag as a quick reference. As a Manager I wished I had this when supervising my practioners as I can see some of the activities being really useful in supervision sessions. -- Jason Loffman