Try: The gentle art of listening is a wonderful gift that you can give to the Care recipient (cr) when you actively listen to the cr you show that you are genuinely interested in what he or she has to say in the process you will instill self-worth and confidence in the cr even if what the cr says does not help you it will help the cr here are some suggestions on how you can become an a more effective and active listener stop talking you can’t listen if you are doing all the talking be patient count to 20 take a breath think before you speak do not interrupt the cr may need extra time to express what he or she wishes to say show interest let the cr know that you care and are interested in what he or she is trying to say maintain eye contact and stay close the cr give the cr you undivided attention and do not do anything else like watching television reading the paper or playing with you electronic devices double check understanding avoid assuming that the cr understands you the cr may even say he or she understands what you have said but not really understand at all this is especially true with the hearing impaired ask the cr to repeat what you have said this sometimes referred to as parroting the overall process of confirming understanding is sometimes called a perception check use active listening skills nodding your head leaning forward touching saying "yes" "i see" repeating back what you have heard and making eye contact are some of the active listening techniques that you may use reference adapted from a presentation by karen stobbe for culture change network of georgia

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Categories: Communication, Social, Fully Aware, Somewhat Aware

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Keywords: Active listening effective listening two way communication

*This information is listed as a Fact Sheet and is not explicitly medically licensed