Tips for active listening

Be fully present in the conversation, to do this you may need to ‘ground’ yourself to be present in the moment. We are often rushing between things and need to take a breath and think about the communication we are about to engage in. Remember that you are listening to understand to offer a safe space to communicate.

Show interest in the person through eye contact, and while appreciating that the other person may not be comfortable with this, take your cue from them. Look again at the techniques we have mentioned discussing such as drawing or sitting side by side to help with this.

• Be aware of and notice someone’s body language and their non-verbal cues – what may they be telling you?
• Ask open questions (that don’t require a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer) to encourage further responses and use follow up prompts to gain more information
• Paraphrase and reflect back on what has been said to check your understanding of what they are telling you, don’t assume you know or understand
• Don’t be judgemental in your responses, sometimes what the child or young person says may be difficult to hear, and they may feel embarrassed or ashamed, but we want them to feel safe and comfortable to share their concerns

Whether you want or need to take notes during these conversations is something else to consider. Think about why you are taking notes, do they need to be verbatim or taking in real time whilst in the conversation, or can you summarise afterwards? Who are the notes for? Are you able to share them with the child or young person you are having the conversation with? In the next section, we will be talking about confidentiality and this is something that you must always consider with documentation as well as within verbal conversations.

To help you develop your active listening skills there are a number of good resources including 7 Active Listening Techniques For Better Communication.