ABSTRACT
Metacommunication represents a core skill within a pluralistic approach to therapy, as a means of enabling micro-collaboration at a moment-by-moment level. The process of engaging in therapeutic metacommunication is similar to therapist immediacy, impact disclosure, commenting on process and transference interpretation. However, within pluralistic therapy, metacommunication is used more widely, as a general strategy that supports collaboration and shared decision-making. In pluralistic therapy, the terms 'therapeutic metacommunication' or 'metatherapeutic communication' are used to refer to the purposeful deployment of this strategy by the therapist. While therapeutic metacommunication has been invoked in other forms of therapy as a means of resolving relationship ruptures or impasses, in pluralistic therapy it is employed more broadly as a means of preventing relationship crises. Moments of metacommunication function to pause or punctuate the ongoing track of the client's talk. Client and therapist tend to find their own rhythm and point of balance over the course of working together.
