Assignment task: People communicate words and ideas, and sometimes it seems appropriate to respond to the content of what someone has just said. Behind the words, however, lie the feelings. Often it is most helpful to respond to the feelings. Identify the feeling; share the word you think best describes how the person might be feeling. Next, write a brief empathic response-a short sentence that includes the feeling.Then for each, provide one open-ended question you might ask this particular client to get more information about the issue/situation.
1"Sometimes it kind of makes me sick to think of all the stuff I did when I was drinking. I'd like to go and take it all back, but how do you ever do that?"
2. I just can't go out in the car. All I hear is the screech of tires and the awful thud and scrape of metal. I thought I was dying. I can see it all before me as if it was yesterday."
3. "We have a neighborhood problem here! Yes we do! A real big idiot lives in that house. A real nut! He trimmed my own yard with a string trimmer and threw stones all over my car. Ruined the paint!"
4. "I never meant to get pregnant. I know everyone says that, but I didn't! I can't think straight. What about my job and school and all my plans? I feel sick. I feel all the time like I'm going to faint."
5. "When I was a little kid, my mom and dad got along okay, but now they fight all the time, and my mother says my dad is on drugs and has a girlfriend. Home is like hell."