Mental health
Feature communication and social skills . It consisted of six sessions and each week the group would start with warm up activities that explored different forms of good and bad communication , for example eye contact , body language and tone of voice .
These activities were taken from the Talkabout Activities book ( Kelly 2003 ). These warm-up activities highlighted what good and bad communication looks like and promoted discussion around how people might perceive poor communication styles , for example as rudeness or disinterest .
The main group activity consisted of service users being asked to create a character that they could relate to , considering their personality traits , emotions , social support , likes , dislikes , hopes and aspirations .
Once this character was developed , service users were provided with several role play prompts , and were asked to think about how the character would react in different scenarios , taking into consideration the character traits they created .
This activity aimed to support service users to try and think about other people ’ s perspectives , develop empathy , and again think about how the character might display different feelings and emotions through verbal and non-verbal communication .
At the end of the group , service users were provided with a cartoon strip that showed the scenarios the character had been in and illustrated the hard work that had been done .
Meeting people ’ s needs
Although in normal circumstances , service users would be referred from the whole clinic , due to COVID-19 , service users mixing between wards was restricted . The group was therefore facilitated only on the Dove Ward , which specialises in working with people with increased communication needs .
Several service users within the group therefore had autism or learning disabilities , as well as a mental health condition .
Six service users were referred to the group , but there was some drop out due to discharges and deteriorating mental health . Therefore , only three individuals regularly attended each group .
The task assessments that had been completed with the referred individuals identified that increasing awareness of social norms , improving socialisation in a wide range of situations , and engaging and managing within a group were treatment priorities ; the group aimed to meet all of these needs .
Service users ’ ability to identify and understand good communication styles varied throughout the group . While some individuals understood the impact of poor body language , bad eye contact and tone of voice , others could not identify how these would negatively impact communication .
When working with the character the group created , again there was a range in how easily service users could consider others ’ perspectives . However , with staff reminding individuals of the character ’ s personality traits and prompting discussion around the role plays , all service users improved in being able to think about how the character might be feeling , and how this might affect their body language and communication .
Some service users found it trickier when an additional character was added into role plays to think of alternative perspectives , for example , when in a restaurant role play also considering how the waiter might be feeling .
The group environment itself supported people to build social skills . While some service users were anxious about acting in front of others , there was an immense and immediate sense of pride and achievement for these individuals after they had finished a role play .
Warm-up activities allowed facilitators to assess skills such as turn taking in conversation , understanding the rules of activities and collaborating with others . Additionally , the group enabled individuals with higher levels of social skills to take on leadership roles within the group , such as motivating more anxious group members and presenting group rules at the start of the session .
Group progress and feedback
The VdT MoCA assessment was used to complete a report on the service
The group environment itself supported people to build social skills . While some service users were anxious about acting in front of others , there was an immense and immediate sense of pride and achievement for these individuals after they had finished a role play .”
January 2022 OTnews 27