[humanser] Handling Silence in Therapy

[Karen Rose]

And someone totally blind I have often wondered what to do about this and I have been in practice for almost 30 years. What I often do is to ask the client something like – what's happening? – Or I'm wondering your thoughts – or feelings? That usually works. Karen

Sent from my iPhone

> On Sep 29, 2014, at 4:27 PM, Alyssa Munsell via humanser <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone!
> 
> 
> 
> I hope this message finds you all well. I have a question for those of you
> who practice mental health therapy. I've been doing therapy for my final
> year internship, and I am noticing that I'm not comfortable when there is a
> long period of silence between my clients and I. This is because I'm not
> able to see their body language well, and therefore, am having a hard time
> assessing whether or not the silence is productive. As you probably already
> know, silence can be powerful and necessary in therapy, so I don't want to
> diminish it. However, without being able to see non-verbal cues about what's
> going on with the person (e.g. they're just thinking or looking at me to say
> something), it is hard for me to know what to do. I was wondering what you
> all do in those types of situations.
> 
> 
> 
> Any feedback would be immensely appreciated.
> 
> 
> 
> Thanks so much,
> 
> 
> 
> Alyssa
> 
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