Continuing Professional Development
Communicating effectively with parents requires continued personal and professional growth and a broad-based knowledge of the program and community. Below are some approaches to expand and build upon the communication skills developed in this guide:
- Meet with a local mental health agency to find out about effective communication approaches for parents and staff who are experiencing stress or other difficulties.
- Form a committee of staff and parents to review and recommend key program materials for revision.
- Community colleges and universities (through their continuing education
programs) offer course work in effective communication practices such as:
- Interpersonal Communication: Includes approaches such as empathic listening,
boundary setting, and other skills of effective person-to-person communication.
- Public Speaking: Covers topics such as developing credibility with an
audience, speech delivery, and building personal confidence.
- Practical Writing Skills: Provides an overview of grammar and sentence
structure as well as planning messages for particular audiences.
- Business trainers offer a number of one-day courses to improve and maintain effective communication skills. These can be taken for Professional Continuing Education credit through local, state and national licensing boards. A few such organizations are:
- Skill Path Seminars. Assertive Communication Skills. (1-800-875-7545).
-
National Seminars Group. How to Communicate with Confidence and Clarity. (1-800-258-7246).
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