Rapport-Based Communication practice begins with a basic trust in yourself, your practice and your communication partner. Jon Kabat-Zinn (2013) notes the importance of developing trust in your trust in you and your own skill, even if you make some mistakes along the way. Without a basic trust or confidence in yourself and your ability it may is difficult build trust with your partner because you may seem unsure or lack the confidence to be able to provide a stable and reassuring presence.
To have trust in your own skill it is essential that you understand and have confidence in your practice - that you know what you’re doing and why. Rapport-based communication has been developed with this in mind, and explains the purpose (to find rapport) and what to do (the 3C’s) in straightforward and easy to remember plain language. Learning this practice can help anyone who supports a person with communication disability to develop more confidence in what they are doing and helps practitioners to be more confident in passing the practice to others too, as I have seen at services that I have collaborated with to deliver training and mentoring.
Building trust is crucial to the development of a positive relationship and following the principles of Rapport-Based Communication will help us to develop mutual trust with our partner because we will be presenting ourselves as non-threatening, non-demanding, safe, available and easy to understand. By responding to our communication partner using the 3C’s we have the best chance of being understood and trusted by the person we support because we are using their body language, interacting at their pace and positioning ourselves so that the person does not feel controlled or demanded upon. In doing this, we are in fact trusting them to lead the interaction and our acceptance and affirmation of their behaviour (in contrast to taking control) will help them to develop trust in their own ability. If we take this approach then I believe that our trust in our partner will be reciprocated and a relationship will develop. As this relationship flourishes the opportunities for natural interactions will naturally grow as our partner feels more and more confident.
Reference
Kabat-Zinn, Jon. 2013. Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. New York: Bantam Books.