ABSTRACT
Every interaction with a client involves both explicit verbal exchanges and implicit non-verbal exchanges. The Boston Change Process Study Group (2008) have chosen to use the terms `implicit domain' and `re¯ective-verbal domain' for these two domains of interaction (p. 125). They speak of `implicit relational knowing' or `knowing how to be with another' (p. 128) as a form of procedural representation that pertains to relationship knowledge acquired at a non-conscious level in interactions with signi®cant others. They stress that such `knowing' may never become symbolically encoded, is both affective and cognitive and is `typically operating outside focal attention and conscious experience without translation into language' (p. 128). In the verbal domain we translate our experience symbolically into language and create a narrative that gives meaning to our experience. The suggestion is that implicit knowing is a lifelong process and does not pertain only to the procedural memories we retain from the preverbal time in our lives. Mostly this implicit relational knowing will in¯uence our relational styles at a non-conscious level. However, we may suddenly become aware of the nature of our relational knowing when we move from one culture to another where the implicit `rules and procedures' are different from our own culture. There can be signi®cant discrepancies between implicit and explicit exchanges.
