Creative Approaches to Delivering Skilled, Person-Centered Rehabilitation (Recorded Webinar)

1. Understanding Soft Skills as Necessary for Clinical Success

This chapter reviews the concept of person-centered care versus the traditional medical model and defines soft skills as key to service delivery. Included in soft skills are personal management and interpersonal communication. Personal management refers to skills such as flexibility, attention to detail, self-confidence, and teamwork. Interpersonal communication refers to the vital skills of listening and conveying appropriate and necessary information.

2. Priority Soft Skill for a Great Therapist: Active Listening

Therapists are often excited to share their knowledge and provide education, but they can be lured into the belief that communication is taking place when, in fact, they may be the ones doing most of the talking. This chapter defines active listening and its essential components of nonverbal affirmation, paraphrasing, summarizing, and deferring judgment. Active listening as a means to establish trust and understanding will be underscored as an element to include throughout a therapeutic encounter.

3. “How Are You Feeling?”

This chapter shares practical tools to help the clinician establish how a client is feeling, including visual tools to elicit expression of emotions, symptoms, and priorities for life participation. For each tool, a short example will be provided to highlight functional contexts where these can be utilized (including for clients with aphasia and cognitive impairments).

4. Making the Most of the Moment

This chapter will share stories of actual clinical interactions where a goal, priority, or upcoming event was shared by the client and developed into an opportunity for therapeutic intervention. Examples will include brief client history, soft skills utilized, shared goal setting, and outcomes, reflecting a person-centered approach. Emphasis is on the personal management the soft skills of creativity, flexibility, and attention to detail.

5. Words Matter: Writing to Reflect Soft Skills

Following the mantra “If it wasn’t documented, it didn’t happen,” we identify language to demonstrate skilled interventions effectively as a means to reflect the use of soft skills in person-centered care delivery. We will discuss effective written communication as another aspect of clinical soft skills at work. Examples will be provided.

6. Question and Answer Session

This chapter is a viewer-submitted question and answer session facilitated by Lauren Schwabish.