COMMUNICATION

Communication skills are difficult for many people. It seems to come easy for some, but most struggle with effective communication at different times in their lives.  Communication is more than just being able to talk. Communication involves social and relational interactions with others.  Many times even when we can talk, we may struggle with knowing if our conversation partner understands or "gets" us, knowing what to say or how to say it, read body language and non-verbal communication, start conversations or keep them going, get out of conversations, or have small talk and change topics.  Communication takes many forms including our voice tone, communication on the telephone, online, and electronically.  For many, situations where we need to communicate, it can be a great source of anxiety and stress.  Our ability to communicate does not have to be perfect, but it should be good enough to have friends and meaningful relationships, date, get and keep a job, and interact in the community.  

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Communication skills can improve with learning and practice. Improving communication skills is embedded into all programming where formative and prerequisite skills are learned, moving to more complex skills. 

 

Open this checklist and answer the questions to see if a communications class or workshop may be helpful.