Other barriers

Physical factors:

Physical factors such a pain and fatigue can affect a person’s ability to engage in conversations.

Finding the optimal time of day can be helpful, as well as considering timing of medication and how it might affect a person’s ability to participate and think clearly.

It’s also really important to check for any additional sensory issues and ensure hearing aids and glasses are available if needed.

Personal factors:

A person’s mood, motivation and beliefs can have a huge impact on their ability to engage in goal setting conversations.

Consider their past experiences and current priorities. Is this the right time to talk about goals and plans? Do they believe that setting goals will help them in their recovery?

Attitudinal factors:

Our own and others attitudes can have an impact on goal setting conversations.

Sometimes families, with the best of intentions, want to take over and speak for the person. This can be helpful, but sometimes it can be counterproductive, especially when we don’t know enough about family relationships prior to communication difficulty.

It’s important to remember that the person has the right to express their views and be involved in setting their own goals if at all possible, so we need to do as much as we can to support this.

Environmental factors:

Background noise, lots of people talking at once or being in a busy place can all have an impact on a person’s ability to engage in conversation.

Consider what you can do to minimise distractions and create a ‘communication friendly’ environment.