Communication Skills for Recreation and Health Professionals

Course content is guided by research, empirical knowledge and best practice.  The following values and principles, consistent with professional standards, inform course content.

1. Foundations of interpersonal communication include an exploration of the transactional communication model and process along with the nature of communication within cultural and computer-mediated contexts.
2. Communication competence includes effective active listening and empathetic responding skills along with self-reflective practice.
3. Self-awareness guides the perception process and self-concept is shaped through language, gender, and cultural values.
4. Empathy, compassion, and self-disclosure are valuable skill sets within interpersonal relationships.
5. Verbal communication is a symbolic, rule-based, subjective, culture-bound process.
6. Development of person-centred language includes awareness of power, bias, racist and sexist language.
7. Nonverbal communication incorporates the reflective listening process, awareness and expresssion of emotions and an understanding of the impact of culture and gender.
8. Interpersonal communication skills are strengthened with supportive communication climates, and with understanding of the roles of interpersonal dynamics, conflict, and self-disclosure.
9. Leisure interviews are an essential component of assessment in the TR process.
10. Helping skills including attending, paraphrasing, questions, silence, empathy, self-disclosure, and summarizing are an important component of conducting an effective conversational leisure interview.