# 6.1 Making engagement and feedback meaningful

An important aspect of critical practice is the ability to elicit, receive and act on feedback from people using services. Getting feedback about your practice as a social worker can be approached as a tick-box exercise or it can enhance critical practice by providing information that you can learn from. In the next activity, Raj and Peter offer some further ideas about ways of eliciting meaningful feedback.

## Activity 7 Building rapport and trust

Allow about 1 hour

#### Part 1

Listen to the discussion in Audio 4. You will probably want to play it more than once and you might want to make some brief notes on what Raj and Peter say about feedback as a process.

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Audio 4 Raj Mehta and Peter Latchford discuss feedback
Transcript
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#### Part 2

Then answer the following questions:

1. Peter and Raj emphasise that building rapport is essential to asking for and receiving meaningful feedback. What is your understanding of building rapport and what skills do you need to develop this?
2. Raj refers to ‘full trust’. Is this always achievable? If not, how can you build rapport?
3. Peter and Raj argue that feedback is an ongoing process. If you approach feedback in this way, how will you record it?
4. What challenges do you envisage in relation to seeking feedback from people using services? What help do you need from your supervisor and tutor to develop this?
5. Sometimes feedback is presented as anger, distress or other emotions that might be difficult to work with. What support do you need in these kinds of situations? What do you need to work on yourself?

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### Discussion

The conversation between Peter and Raj raises several issues relevant to critical practice. Your own notes will probably have further underlined how critical practice requires self-reflection and self-awareness.

By approaching interactions with curiosity, openness and a willingness to question assumptions, social workers can create spaces in which individuals feel heard, respected and genuinely involved in decision-making. Critical reflection enables practitioners to interpret feedback meaningfully as part of a collaborative process that strengthens person-centred practice.

OpenLearn - Exploring critical social work practice
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