Communication

Learning Objectives
By the end of the presentation participants
should be able to;
 Define communication
 Describe the types of communication
 Describe communication process
 Explain the barriers of communication

 Explain communication skills

Definition
Communication is a process through which
information messages, thoughts, ideas and
feelings are transmitted from one person to
another

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Types of Communication
 There are 2 types:
 verbal
 non-verbal

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Communication Process

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 Barriers to Effective
Communication
 Moralizing : Making judgements about the client
 Arguing
 Preaching: Telling the client what to do in a self
righteous manner
 Storytelling: Relating long winded narratives
about you that are not relevant
 Blocking Communication: Being aggressive,
authoritative, impatient, showing annoyance
 Wrong mannerism: Social media
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Communication Skills
 SOLER
 Active listening
 Questioning
 Paraphrasing
 Focusing
 Challenging
 Summarizing
 Working Silence
 Empty Chair
 Affirmation
 Vacation
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 Structuring/Contracting
SOLER
 S-Sitting Squarely
 O-Open posture
 L-Leaning forward
 E-Eye contact
 R-Relatively relaxed

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Active Listening
 Actions that show you are listening
 These are important because:
 It feels great when someone is listening
 It feels humiliating when someone is not listening
 If your client thinks you are not listening,
he/she may stop talking or think you
disapprove

 Activity: listening and not listening

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Questioning
 Open-ended questions:
 Encourage choice: How? What? When?
 Closed-ended questions:
 Restrict choice, yes/no answers
 Leading questions:
 Lead to TS provider-decided answers
 “Why” questions:
 Can sound interrogative, causes defensiveness

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Paraphrasing
 Restating the content of the message in
similar, but fewer, words
 Shows understanding
 Provides reflection that is clearer than the
original statements
 Begins with feelings, ends with facts

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Summarizing
 Making a brief statement by bringing together
key points from a counselling session or a
part of a counselling session

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Focusing
 Enables client to understand their issues in
greater depth
 Helps move the client from the general to the
specific

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Challenging
 Helpful in identifying contradictions in client’s
behavior and stimulates them to consider
their current position of view
 Challenging skills include:
 Confrontation
 Immediacy
 Self disclosure
 Concreteness
 Firmness

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Challenging skills …(1)
 Confrontation is a technique that helps to
address discrepancies between;
 what one thinks and feels
 what one says and does
 views of self and views by others
 what one is and what one wishes to be

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Challenging skills…(2)
 Immediacy is the ability of the counsellor to
use the immediate situation to invite the client
to look at what is going on between them in
the relationship.
 It often feels risky and unfamiliar.
 It implies the use of the present tense.
 It is one of the most powerful skills in counselling.
 Also in immediacy, the counsellor endeavors to
enquire about the experience

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Challenging skills ...(3)
 Self disclosure involves the counsellor
appropriately disclosing or talking about
oneself, or sharing personal experiences,
emotions, and attitudes with a client.

 Careful use of self-disclosure in helping

sessions can facilitate client growth and
exploration.

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 Challenging skills…
 It’s imperative that counsellors only use this skill
when they are absolutely sure of the following:
 That they have already successfully dealt with the issue
they want to disclose (e.g. that they are able to adhere to
medication if they are taking long term treatment or have
been able to disclose to a significant other, etc.)

 That whatever they want to disclose is going to help the

client make a therapeutic movement i.e. move from one
level to the next.

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 Challenging skills (4)
 Concreteness/firmness is an aspect of
counselling that means that the counselor
should be specific, definite, and vivid rather than
vague and general.
 A concrete counsellor uses specific facts and figures.
Concreteness serves three important functions:
 It keeps the therapist’s response close to the client's
feelings and experiences;
 It fosters accurateness of understanding in the therapist,
allowing for early client corrections of misunderstanding
 It encourages the client to attend to specific problem
areas.
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 Affirmation
 The skill encourages the counsellor to praise,
appreciate the client for the efforts they have put in
place already in their lives.
 Example on praising client:
 Deciding to start treatment and/or reduce risk of
getting infected is a huge step
 Affirmation helps to motivate clients to start
treatment or reduce the risk of acquiring HIV
infection.
 Index testing requires high level of trust towards
the provider for clients to list their sexual, family
and social contacts; and affirmation makes the 20

client feel less anxious

Structuring/contracting
 Counsellor establishes to the client what the
session will cover and the boundaries or
limits of the service.
 The skill helps in making sure that both the
counsellor and the client have a clear
understanding about the session and what
roles and responsibilities each party plays.
 Its during contracting that the client is
informed of PNS and listing of sexual, family,
and social contacts. 21
Working Silence
 Maintaining silence as you allow a client to
process and reflect on information
 Communicate presence in the session using
minimal prompts such as nodding,
maintaining eye contact, leaning forward

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Empty Chair
 The empty chair technique is a talk therapy
exercise in which one expresses his/her
thoughts and feelings as if he/she is talking to
a specific person (usually the one they
experience a conflict with).
 One directs his/her words and gestures at an
empty chair as if that chair contained a
person they need to express themselves to

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 Key points
 Communication is a process through which
information messages, thoughts, ideas and
feelings are transmitted from one person to
another
 Barriers to communication: moralizing, arguing,
preaching, story telling, blocking communication
 Communication skills: active listening,
questioning, paraphrasing, focusing, challenging,
working silence. Empty chair, affirmation and
structuring 24