Attending & Listening Skills

Foundation for the other intervention skills

covered in the course.

Typical Sequence of Skills

Attending Psychological:

Physical:

Nonverbal Communication

Definition:

Intentions:

Attending Acronym: SOLER Squarely face the client. Open posture. Lean toward the client. Eye contact. Relax or appear natural.

Guidelines & Precautions Verbal messages should match

body language. . Meaning of body language

depends upon one’s culture & unique personality.

.

Active Listening Definition:

Intention:

Challenge:

Skills for Soliciting Information

Closed Questions Definition:

Intentions: (1) obtain specific information about a client or (2) confirm understanding.

Open Questions Definition:

Intention:

Guidelines for Questioning

Use open questions to inquire about a general topic & closed questions to obtain more specific details about the topic.

Use questions sparingly or you may fall into a question-answer format.

Use a variety of helping responses. Don’t ask leading questions or give

advice in the guise of a question (“Don’t you think. .?)”

. . . . Try to turn “why” questions into

what or how questions. Be careful asking “How do you feel

about that?” Don’t ask questions just because

you are just nosey. Questioning should be intentional and based on what the client needs.

Silence

Definition:

Intentions:

Helpful Hint:

Additional Eliciting Skills

Accents:

Minimal Encouragers:

Reflection & Summarization

Intentions: Sounding Board. Promote deeper exploration. Communicate empathy. Perception Checking. Build helping relationship.

Reflection or Restatement:

Definition:

Guidelines:

Types of Reflection:

1. _______ communicating understanding of a client’s description or perception of a situation.

2. ________ communicating understanding of the emotions expressed or indicated by the client. Frequently, feelings must be inferred because clients might not have revealed their feelings directly.

3. ________communicate understanding of the client’s worldview. What is the meaning or personal significance that clients attach to their experiences?

Steps involved in Reflection:

Templates for Reflecting Feelings:

1. “You feel _____(emotion).”2. “You feel __ because of ___.”3. “Perhaps you are feeling ____.”4. “It sounds like you feel ____.”5. “My guess is that you feel _____.”6. “If I were you, I might feel _____.”7. “I wonder whether you feel ____.”8. “Maybe, you feel _____.”

Summarization: Definition:

Intentions:

Self-Disclosure Definition:

Intentions: