ABSTRACT
This chapter draws attention to the place of talk in the cycle of counselling and highlights the concern that talk may overshadow listening and thinking to the detriment of building collaborative relationships. Talking is, then, a complex communication interaction which happens in a social context and reflects such factors as language, meaning, culture and power. Counselling is then a more formalised and prescribed type of conversation or talking. Delivering talk counselling with these other communication and interactive styles may be particularly relevant where there are developmental issues that further limit the effectiveness of talk only. Self-disclosure involves talking about personal experiences with the service user in the work setting. There is a growing interest in researching the service users' perception of self-disclosure by the social worker or counsellor. Silence is an opportunity to give space to the service user to compose their thoughts and consider what and how they want to express themselves.
