{"id":4111,"date":"2014-11-14T12:14:36","date_gmt":"2014-11-14T12:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/?p=4111"},"modified":"2014-11-14T12:14:36","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T12:14:36","slug":"getting-root-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/getting-root-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Goal setting: getting to the root of the problem for someone with MS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to an OT colleague for this powerful story of how Talking Mats helped a woman with Multiple Sclerosis with goal setting by\u00a0getting to the root of the problems she was having.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am an OT working in a community rehabilitation team in Scotland.\u00a0 I have been seeing a woman (who I will call Jill) with MS.\u00a0 Jill has been experiencing increasing problems associated with her MS and finding it difficult to cope. \u00a0During my first visit, Jill found it difficult to tell me about the problems she had been experiencing, and almost impossible to consider how we could translate these problems into tangible goals that we could work on<\/em><\/strong>. \u00a0\u00a0She was closed to any suggestions I made about potential rehabilitation goals.\u00a0 In her mind, the problems she had were there to stay, nothing could be done about them and she would just have to struggle on.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t seem to be getting anywhere just talking about it<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 Jill was getting a bit exasperated and I was finding it difficult to keep a structure to our conversation and steer it towards agreeing on a goal that we could work towards.\u00a0 I felt there was a real risk of her disengaging from the service because we could not agree on a way forward<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Then I decided to use Talking Mats to see if that would help<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 I knew that using Talking Mats could help people with cognitive problems as well as those with communication difficulties. \u00a0I wondered if doing a general Talking Mat using the Health and Well-being TOPIC symbols <\/a>would help me identify what Jill thought her main problem areas were.\u00a0 Then I planned to do a sub-mat to look at her priority areas in more detail.\u00a0 My aim was to try and identify one or two rehabilitation goals (reflecting Jill\u2019s priorities) that we could work towards. \u00a0I really felt that there was potential to make a positive impact on Jill\u2019s quality of life if I could get her to engage and agree on a goal to work towards.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Using Talking Mats proved to be a great success.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Jill very quickly got the concept of it.\u00a0 It seemed to be much easier for her to pick up a symbol card, consider it, and then place it on the Mat.\u00a0 Using the Mat appeared to reduce the \u2018cognitive load\u2019 of the conversation and gave her structure to work within which she found much easier.\u00a0 Jill<\/em><\/strong> was able to identify what her main problem areas\/ priorities were: <\/em><\/strong>\u2013 Mobility and Learning\/ Thinking (see picture of her Mat above).\u00a0 Jill was pleased that she had got her message across and actually seemed to enjoy the process of using Talking Mats.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now we have got a starting point.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 In my next session I\u2019m hoping to complete sub-Mats with Jill in the Topics of Mobility and Learning\/Thinking.\u00a0 This will allow us to explore these areas in more detail.\u00a0 Using<\/em><\/strong> Talking Mats was a real breakthrough in Jill\u2019s rehabilitation. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

To read another blog about using Talking Mats with someone with Multiple Sclerosis click here<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thanks to an OT colleague for this powerful story of how Talking Mats helped a woman with Multiple Sclerosis with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":4113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,61,72,17,47],"tags":[13,18,65,73],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","category-multiple-sclerosis","category-occupational-therapy","category-participation","category-self-directed-care","tag-talking-mats","tag-participation","tag-goal-setting","tag-occupational-therapy-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGoal setting: getting to the root of the problem for someone with MS - Improving Communication, Improving Lives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A powerful story of how Talking Mats helped a woman with Multiple Sclerosis with goal setting by getting to the root of the problems she was having.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.talkingmats.com\/getting-root-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Goal setting: getting to the root of the problem for someone with MS - 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