[humanser] Handling Silence in Therapy

[Alyssa Munsell]

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