It's important to understand active listening skills, not just for your exam, but for your counseling practice. You've probably heard the common wisdom that the strength of a counseling relationship is what makes or breaks therapy for the client. Forming a strong rapport with a client can help them achieve the therapeutic gains they set out to make. One way to make sure you are establishing rapport with your client is to communicate that you hear them and they matter to you. You can do this with active listening skills.
Check yourself: Do you understand the listening skills below, and could you identify them in a multiple choice question on exam day?
- Mirroring - using the same body language, wording, or affect that a client has used in session
- Reflecting - describing the client's experience by referencing their own feelings, meanings, or the content of their disclosures.
- Summarizing - Creating broad, concise statements that capture a client's experience as they have expressed it to you over extended periods of time.
- Nonjudgmental stance - Approaching the client without bias or prejudice, and communicating acceptance through body language and word choice
What are some other counseling skills that communicate to the client that you hear them?