Reflecting and Clarifying
Introduction
Reflecting and clarification are two key skills of client-centred counselling. For clients who have problems with self expression and are unable to articulate what they want to say, reflecting and clarifying helps them to express the issues that are important to them. Through reflecting, clients are helped to focus on what they have said and their own thoughts become clearer in the process.
In addition, however good you think your listening skills are, the only person who can tell you if you have understood correctly or not, is your client. Therefore, as an extension of good listening skills, you need to develop the ability to reflect your clients’ words and feelings and to clarify that you have understood them correctly. In a client-centred helping relationship, it is essential that you and your client agree that what you understand to be the problem, is in fact the problem as he/she sees it.
By the end of this Unit students should be able to:
- Distinguish between reflecting, clarifying and summarising.
- Recognise situations where reflecting and clarifying are necessary.
- Describe the difference between reflecting words, emotion and meaning.
- Discuss reasons why a counsellor needs to reflect and clarify what the client says.
- Describe the difference between open and closed questions.
Other Certificate in Interpersonal Skills for Volunteers course snippets:
Assertiveness | Confidentiality | Counselling Skills | Dealing with Aggression | Decision Making | Group Working | Interpersonal Communication | Listening | Negotiation | Problem Solving | Stress Management
See Also
Certificate In Interpersonal Skills for Volunteers Homepage
What are Interpersonal Skills?