You would assume that listening is probably the most important skill in counselling I have noticed that affective listening is

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In this written assignment we will look at the importance of listening, we will look at the ways in which we can help the client feel as though we are listening and ways to help ourselves listen more affectively. We will look at non verbal communication, the importance of body language, facial expression and posture. How they are both entwined and are both important in the counselling relationship and my experiences of both in role play.

You would assume that listening is probably the most important skill in counselling I have noticed that affective listening is not as simple as it seems, I would imagine it is not that easy to make a client believe that you are listening completely for fifty minutes and not that easy a task to undertake without a lot of practice and experience. A client must feel that you have heard what they have said by responding with minimal prompts or question. In one-to-one interactions the client needs to know that they are being heard. One experience I have had in role play in class is when the person playing the role of counsellor was looking away fidgeting and seemed distracted, it was very difficult to keep talking, I felt unworthy, boring and that the counsellor thought I was wasting their time and mine and found it very difficult to concentrate on what I was about to say next. I also experienced the opposite where the counsellor seemed very interested in what I had to say and prompted me to say more with facial expression minimal prompts and questions One of the ways to show that you are listening is to reflect back to the client in the patients own words. . In my opinion listening can be more than what we hear, when you are fully engaged in what the client is saying maybe by mirroring the client, you actually feel what they are saying and listening for the feelings behind what is being said can help you understand the severity and the effects on the person of what is being said. The way in which the client speaks the tone of their voice such as a flat voice, anger, tension and even happy cheerful and excitement can add a lot to the words so being able to hear the feelings in their tone of voice is just as important.

It is very difficult to listen to the client's words without being distracted by outside influences and by words from the client that may trigger other thoughts or emotions in yourself. Listening involves more than hearing what is said, being prepared to listen is important, not just ourselves being prepared, but the setting as well, you need to eliminate as many outside distractions as possible, try to find somewhere quite and try to make sure no one is going to interrupt and that mobile phones are not going to ring, it is probably the only quality time that a client gets to speak and be listened to with out interruptions. All depending on the individual the environment is important in listening a young person would probably feel more able to talk in a more familiar environment. Seating is important and the positioning of chairs at a slight angle or inviting the client to manoeuvre the chair so they are more comfortable can convey that you are ready to listen and that you respect them (notes) I would imagine equal heights in chairs would be important as the client would not be able to express themselves if they feel inferior also it is important to keep non relevant paperwork out of the way so as not to distract you. Preparing ourselves so we are ready to listen is very important, you can not give full attention if you would rather be somewhere else or have more important things on our minds, needing the toilet or a grumbling stomach would make it difficult to listen affectively. Watching the time can be a distraction maybe placing a clock behind the client so it can be seen without an obvious moving of the head so you can keep an eye on the time without making it seem that you are not listening or making the client feel rushed.
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It can be difficult if whilst listening you hear something you don't like, you need to listen but not show any shocked or upset reaction, accept what they say, do not judge and do not interrupt. Also important is that you don't switch of when you think you have heard it all before, even if you have heard it all before, it is still obviously very important to the client and it is possibly the first time they have expressed these thoughts in words, so it is new to them and you never know there may be a ...

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