ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at listening as a familiar social skill and considers how that differs from employing it in a counselling social work context. Key social work counselling skills have been identified in the introductory chapter as listening, thinking and talking. It could be argued that talking can happen with little attention to listening or thinking; for example, the old adage recommending to engage brain before speaking probably arose as a warning for those who talk without thinking. Three phases in counselling are building the relationship and developing an understanding of the issues, processing that understanding though a range of filters, and formulating a response and working towards an action plan. Good listening means that the social worker must recognise that listening is a skill that works as part of a more elaborate suite of skills. It is different with listening as a skill in the professional context.
