creative communication techniques

Question 1

I messages

Answer 1

“ive looked after a lot of teenagers and they usually ahve a lot of questions along this line”

Question 2

third person technique

Answer 2

you have to scaffold in “normality”, ask them if there’s anything they want to know about, give them permission to talk. particularly effective in adol MH. they are so concerned their Q is stupid and not normal. “so usually when I work with teens your age, they ask about ____. woudl you like to know more about this?”

Question 3

bibliotherapy

Answer 3

lots of books on various helpful topics/themes; make sure you’ve read the book and its a good book; dont just give it to them to read, the idea is to discuss it with them, “what did you think about the book? how would you have liked it to end?”

Question 4

“what if” questions

Answer 4

hypothetical questions about decisions they make

Question 5

play

Answer 5

work of children; they will work things out in play and art. they can act out situations and maybe change the outcome

Question 6

storytelling

Answer 6

same as bibliotherapy but with your own story

Question 7

three wishes

Answer 7

“what are 3 things you really want to do?” “if you could change three things about your life right now what would they be?” opens the door for the pt to self-disclose

Question 8

sentence completion

Answer 8

trying to get their thoughts/feelings/wants out on the table. “if i could come have two people come visit me in the hospital… they would be”; say the sentence and just let them blurt out the answer