Psychotherapy skills:

•The best way to know how to be a good therapist is to have a couple of sessions with a good therapist and learn from him/her.

A therapist should listen carefully to clients.

•Listening carefully means being present in the room and not being distracted by your own thoughts.

•Being seen and heard is really satisfying to clients.

ASKING GOOD QUESTIONS

•Good questions are usually open-ended, and they clarify what clients said before.

•Questions should be related and focused on one specific subject.

Having empathy is also crucial in practicing therapy.

◦You have to feel the way clients feel to connect with them. However, you should not be drowning in their emotions

KNOWING YOURSELF

•The first step to knowing others is to know yourself.

•Therapy, mindfulness meditation, journaling, and life experiences can help us to know ourselves better.

PAYING ATTENTION TO YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CLIENTS

•The quality of the therapy is based on the relationship between the therapist and the client.

◦As a therapist, you should know that you do not have to accept working with every client who comes to you.

◦It is your job to ask them and create an environment so that they feel safe to discuss their feeling with you.