When it comes to communicating with your client, you can be met with a series of unexpected circumstances. Listen in this section as Rory and Ken discuss some of the barriers you might come across in counselling, and how you might go about tackling them:

• Communication is the successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings. If something gets in the way of those ideas and feelings being either shared, or received and understood, it’s likely there is a barrier of some sort preventing this.
• The different types of barriers:
  • External/environmental barriers – noise disruption (e.g. construction), a bad connection if working online.
  • Internal barriers - neurodiversity.
  • Cultural barriers – language, this may also include economic/class differences.
  • Topic barriers – are there any topics you feel uncomfortable talking about?
  • Jargon – occupation-specific vocabulary or even dialect.
• Are there any topics of conversation that you find yourself shying away from? E.g. sex, sexuality, race, religion. If this is the case, you should look into why these subjects maybe make you feel shy/embarrassed/uncomfortable. If you feel uncomfortable discussing them, the client will too.
• Barriers work both ways.
• Clarifying – if you’re not sure you understand what a client has said, clarify.
• Practice recognising barriers and learn the different kinds. Think about what you might do if met with a barrier, this helps you be prepared for if it does come up in a session.
• Recognise communication barriers in your own life, journal them, take them to supervision and think about why they might be there.
• Seek CPD on subjects you’re not sure on for a better understanding, this will help you to discuss them more comfortably with your client.