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Listening Skills
When you are talking with a
young person who has been bereaved, it is important to use all your
skills of listening in order to have the best effect. These can
include:-
- Warmth and care - show your concern, be accepting
and friendly towards them.
- Empathy - try to understand how it feels to be in
their situation and show that you would like to understand them.
- Being non-judgemental - accept their opinions, feelings
and judgements.
- Respect - let them show and feel any emotion they
choose.
- Genuineness - don't play a part. Be yourself.
- Listen more than you talk - you can't do both at the
same time.
- Clarify - if you don't understand what someone has
said, ask them to explain it by asking them a relevant question.
- Summarize - check that you have understood what you
have been told by summarising occasionally.
- Questions - ask open questions like 'why', 'how',
'when' and 'what' to encourage the person to talk.
- Silences - can be used to marshal thoughts or to think
about something difficult. Don't interrupt, but give them time.
- Listen to what isn't said - listen to how they speak,
look at their body language.
- Don't make assumptions - wait for them to finish speaking
before thinking you might have understood them.
- Concentrate - give
all your attention to what is being
said and try not to be distracted.
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