Health and social care
One to one communication
On the 17th December 2012, I and my peers went to Collingwood grange nursing home to give the people living there a little Christmas part to cheer them up and to get them into the Christmas spirit. When we were there I had a one to one interaction with an elderly lady who was sat in a chair. We spoke informally to each other, we spoke about the elderly lady’s mother when she met the queen and we were talking about what we were doing for Christmas and over Christmas.
I started the interaction with the elderly lady by saying ‘hello’ and smiling at her, she then started to talk to me, telling me all about her mother and when her mother saw the queen, while she was talking I kneeled down to her level so that she felt more comfortable and more relaxed talking to me also so that I could hear her better as the environment we were in was noisy. I made eye contact with her and tilted my head to the side a little bit to show her that I was interested in what she was talking about. I repeated parts of what she had said to make sure I understood and didn’t miss anything out.
When I was talking to her I used hand gestures, I had a good posture and made sure I was smiling, as my facial expressions are very important to make sure she feels comfortable and doesn’t feel like I’m over powering her or looking down on her.
When I made eye contact, it was a non-verbal communication this tells her that I am interested and would like to listen to what she has to say.
I think the elderly lady found me friendly, the interpersonal skill I used is probably talking to people because I’m a bubbly person.
Health and social care
Group communication/interaction
In April 2009, I and other girls met up at the nspcc in leatherhead to have a group counselling session to help us and others cope and deal with what had happened. We were all sat on chairs in a circle and a group female leader was also present, we all spoke informally we spoke about ourselves and how we felt.
We started the interaction by going round the circle, telling everyone our name, age and one thing about ourselves. After that we listened to each other’s stories, when someone was talking I leaned in from my chair to be able to hear them and to show I was interested in what they were saying. If I agreed with anything they said I slowly nod my head to show the speaker I agreed with them. I smiled slightly but not to make the speaker think I found what they were saying