Response

supporting

- a supporting statement can sooth, approve, or reduce tension can be positive and negative

Skills of responding

1. Attending Behavior 2. Reflecting Feeling: 3. Reflecting Content: summarizing and paraphrasing 4. Self-Disclosure: 5. Empathy:

Dimensions of communication skills involved in responding:

1. Perceptiveness and awareness: 2. Technical Ability 3. Assertiveness:

3. Assertiveness:

Accurate perceptions and excellent know-how are meaningless unless they are actually used when called for. If you lack assertiveness you cannot deliver the skill required.

1. Perceptiveness and awareness:

Attending, observing, and listening to your client by using your practical intelligence and understanding (Know the difference between "cognitive content" (facts and words) from the "affective content" (the feelings, emotions that are directly or indirectly expressed))

Response Skills:

Learning how to respond effectively involves: • Variety of responses for you to use • Choosing the appropriate response for the specific situation

1. Attending Behavior:

Natural eye contact, appropriate posture, appropriate verbal responses, effective use of silence, use of minimal verbal responses or minimal encouragement.

2. Technical Ability:

Once you are aware of what kind of response is called for in the helper process, you need to be able to deliver it. This is the "know how". Includes academic training, knowledge of research on effectiveness of strategies and treatments.

5. Empathy:

Refers to the helper's ability and skills to accurately experience the client's world as they see it, and communicate this understanding to the client. Empathy is when you put yourself in your client's shoes - to think with the client.

3. Reflecting Content

Summarizing and paraphrasing.

4. Self-Disclosure:

The sharing of biographical information, feelings or ideas about the help to the client.

2. Reflecting Feeling:

Use this when you want to identify the feelings a client conveys to you and describe this back to them. Do not project your own feelings on to your client. Look for contradictions in behaviors. Acknowledge their right to their feelings.

Interpreting/reforming

When the helper identifies the underlying meaning of a client's story and then formulates an interpretation enabling the client to see their story from an alternate perspective. "Have you thought that perhaps..."

interpreting

is an attempt to point out an alternative or hidden view of an event to help a person see things from a different prospective

constructive criticism

is an evaluation of behaviour usually negative given to help a person identify a fault.

praise

is giving a person a veral award for what they have said or done

4 key helping responses

supporting, interpreting, praise, constructive criticism

• What does empathy involve?

• Using your own experience to communicate empathy to your client. • Using the experiences of others to be empathetic • Using your imagination when you communicate empathy.