ABSTRACT
Clients often will want to tell their story - sometimes it will be in the first session, sometimes they will need to feel safe in themselves and with the counsellor and it will take longer before they begin to talk in this way. It is an important step, a critical time. The person-centred counsellor needs to be at their best. The client is giving of themselves. They need to speak and they need someone to bear witness to what they have to say. The core conditions must be offered. Sometimes the counsellor will say very little, the client will keep talking. Their need to talk is more important in that moment than their need to check that they have been heard. Perhaps they accept that because the counsellor is there, in the room, offering attention. For other clients they will need to know that the counsellor has heard them. The story may last a whole session or more, or a short period of time, but when the time is right the client is likely to be feeling a need to tell it. This must be respected.
