Therapeutic communication techniques involve active listening, mirroring and validation in order to gain a better understanding of the patient’s emotions, thoughts and feelings. Active listening is a technique used to demonstrate that you are paying attention by making sure that the patient is heard and their words are understood. Mirroring involves repeating back what the patient has said in order to confirm your understanding; this can also help reduce any potential miscommunication. Validation involves showing empathy through acknowledging a patient’s feelings without necessarily agreeing or disagreeing with them.

Non-therapeutic communication techniques include interruptions, challenges and evasiveness. Interruptions occur when there is an interruption in conversation without letting the other person finish their thought process. Challenges involve questioning another person’s perspective or ideas without any invitation to do so; this can be seen as disrespectful or dismissive behavior. Finally evasiveness occurs when someone avoids responding directly to questions posed by changing the subject or avoiding certain topics altogether.

1. Identify therapeutic and non-therapeutic communication techniques. 2. Identify congruency between verbal and non-verbal communication. 3. Document the conversation and label the parts of the conversation.