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Skills for Helping Clients Succeed in Therapy

Presented by J. Scott Yaruss

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Understanding the process of change provides clinicians with a strong foundation for guiding their clients through therapy. Knowing this big picture is not sufficient, however, because clinicians must also become experienced in using specific counseling strategies that help clients make their way through that process of change. This course (part two of a three part series) will help clinicians develop these counseling strategies by describing several key skills that can be used both in and out of treatment to help clients better understand their situation and work in concrete ways toward a preferred future, whether that involves improved fluency, better communication attitudes, or both. This is the second in a three course series.

Meet your instructor

J. Scott Yaruss

J. Scott Yaruss, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-F, F-ASHA, is a Professor of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University. A board-certified specialist in fluency disorders, Dr. Yaruss has served on the board of directors for the National Stuttering Association and as Associate Coordinator for the American…

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Chapters & learning objectives

How Do We Interact with Clients in Therapy?

1. How Do We Interact with Clients in Therapy?

Chapter One introduces three ways of interacting with clients as described by Luterman in his classic text (informing, persuading, valuing and listening). The key point is that different methods achieve different goals.

How Do We Counsel?

2. How Do We Counsel?

Chapter Two reviews the concept of counseling microskills and focuses on the process of listening to clients in order to extract a “core message” to ensure that the clinician can understand the perspective of the speaker.

How Do We Respond to What We've Heard?

3. How Do We Respond to What We've Heard?

Chapter Three highlights the fact that listening well does little good for the client if the client does not know that we have listened. In order to convey our understanding of the client’s perspective, we have to respond with empathy to reflect what we heard.

What Types of Other Responses Can We Use?

4. What Types of Other Responses Can We Use?

Chapter Four explores other possible responses to clients’ statements (e.g., probes, brainstorms, summaries) and discusses when it might be appropriate to use one response versus another.