My client refuses to speak to me - what next?
When we are assigned a new client, it is the wish of every live-in carer that we get along with the new client. Nothing worse than to be living with a person who does not like you or knocks heads over everything you do. In an ideal world you would always go to a client who is sweet and gentle, enjoys your cooking and appreciates all you do.
Unfortunately, with live-in care, there are often cases where carers and clients do not get along. Both have different ideas of how things should be done, and sometimes serious arguments can take place. Normally things will work themselves out once both sides have had their say and in most cases a compromise is reached.
What happens if your client refuses to speak to you?
This is a tricky situation because there are not two sides to be heard. Your client has decided that the way to handle you and all you stand for is simply to refuse to speak to you. You can ask as many questions as you like, and never get an answer. This will become a very frustrating situation in a very short time.
While we are trained to always be polite and walk away from confrontation, in this situation where there is no communication, there are several ways to deal with silence.
Carry on as normal
This means that for the length of your stay you will be holding a one-sided conversation with yourself, but you may find that there are no arguments or even discussions of what to cook for tea. You simply have your conversation and suggest a meal choice. With no response, you take the reply to be in agreement and carry on.
Try questions
Unless your client has Dementia (in which case questions may bring aggression) you could try to ask questions that should draw an answer. Most older people enjoy talking about their past lives and will readily tell you about their younger days. Asking a few pertinent questions may evoke a response. It also may not bring any answers but is worth a try.
Ignore it and see what happens
As long as you are not nasty or sarcastic to your silent client, you may just explain that you don’t know why you are getting the silent treatment so you intend to simply carry on with daily tasks in silence. Sometimes this will be enough to encourage your client to talk to you about what she’d like for tea – and sometimes it won’t!
To sum up
If you arrive at a ‘silent client’ it is worth chatting to the family to be sure that there is nothing wrong, other than they just do not intend to talk to you. You will find it very frustrating when the family arrive, and mom suddenly talks to them but there is not much you can do about this attitude to you.
While there may not be many silent clients, it is possible that you will be sent to one eventually. After deciding on the best way to approach the situation, you might want to think that if that is the worst of the placement, it isn’t too bad. You are not getting shouted at, argued with or even abused verbally, so perhaps a bit of silence is preferable to other forms of treatment!
Tags:
© 2025 EJOBBOARD LTD. All Rights Reserved.