ABSTRACT
Use of enquiry is probably every therapist's second tool, after listening. Even if, as a therapist, all you do is use enquiry, you can have some degree of success (Erskine et al., 1999). The backdrop of therapeutic enquiry is a genuine interest in the client and their process and is done respectfully and sensitively (Hargaden and Sills, 2002). The intention behind the enquiry process is to deepen awareness ± both for the client and the therapist. Sensitive, and carefully attended to, enquiry will often enable the client to see their own meanings and generate solutions to their problems with the minimum of therapist intervention. Elegant therapeutic enquiry leads to ever-increasing awareness and greater integration for the client. For the therapist, skilful enquiry helps to create a knowledge base of information about our client, and in terms of the overall process of therapy, it facilitates our clients talking about themselves and their deepest processes, and it enhances the owning of responsibility and implies the potential for problem solving.
