For Health and Social Care

Talking Mats is widely used across a range of Health and Social Care settings to support person-centred planning and practice.

It supports adults and children with communication difficulties, including people with learning disabilities, dementia, mental health issues and stroke. 

What Impact can Talking Mats have in Health and Social Care settings? 

Talking Mats can:

• Enable person centred care by ensuring an individual’s voice is at the heart of planning and intervention. 
• Help a person’s understanding, reflection and expression 
• Provide a framework that supports decision making  
• Support capacity assessments  
• Support safeguarding  
• Support discharge planning and ongoing self- management of care needs 
• Support practitioners to adapt their communication style and practice

Why is this important?

Legislative and policy frameworks in the UK emphasise the need to take an individual’s wishes into account at all levels of decision making about their lives. It also highlights the requirement  that appropriate communication support should be offered to enable that to happen.

Talking Mats Resources that can support your conversations:

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Health and Wellbeing

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Social Care

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Keeping Safe

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Thinking Ahead

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We recommend that professionals using our resources complete the Talking Mats Foundation training course.  

Find out how to access our Foundation training course here.