What are the advantages of the solar method of communication?

Answer 1

· One good point of SOLER is that it allows you to console someone, one on one. This is relevant within health and social care settings, especially in social care or a health setting. You may need to give someone some bad news and by using this communication theory you will be comforting them and giving them your undivided attention, making them feel that they are valued. If you are giving the person some bad news, you will need to be serious and professional so that the other person trusts and respects you. However if you were fussing about with something else, not concentrating, kept looking at your watch as if wanting to be somewhere else or on your mobile the last thing they would want is to hear some bad news from you. For example Doctors are often there at the most crucial times in our lives such as births, deaths and occasions when close family members or friends may be ill. It's a well-documented dispute that GP's have a bad 'bedside manner'. The General Medical council are changing the training of doctors to improve this. Tomorrow's Doctors requires medical schools to ensure that their students can communicate effectively - including demonstrating how to break bad news, discuss sensitive issues or plan treatment with vulnerable patients.

· Another good situation for using SOLER in a health & social care setting can be for interviews. This doesn't necessarily mean a job interview, the interview could be 2 people getting to know each other e.g. within early years or education teachers/minders would need to get to know the new children starting/enrolling. This would enable them to build a stable relationship with the child meaning they gain as much help or as little help needed to suit them. The teacher/carer would also get to know how the child best learns. Learning can involve a lot of listening, which itself needs some skills that a lot of children would not yet know. The child will also be sussing out the teacher as to whether they like them or not, so they teacher will need to be responsive and show attentiveness, reacting to what the child says appropriately. An interview like this is often when first impressions are made so body language is very important. SOLER is all about body language for the listener so this suits it well. If the teacher was distracted by other things the child would feel undervalued.

· A third situation where SOLER is good is within counselling. Counsellors are often dealing with people in a fragile state of mind and will more than likely struggle to trust just anyone. The biggest part of a counsellor's job is to listen to someone's problems and react appropriately. Counselling sessions could become quite tense, especially if the counselee is on edge. The R in SOLER states that you need to be relaxed whilst paying attention, seeming relaxed would reduce the tense atmosphere making the other person relax also. SOLER also states facing the other person squarely with an open posture, this makes the person talking feel valued, making them want to open up to the counsellor and talk more.