Therapeutic Communication: Developing Professional Skills

Therapeutic Communication: Developing Professional Skills

This paper offers a review of the book, "Therapeutic Communication: Developing Professional Skills," and outlines how the material presented in this book may prove beneficial to counseling practitioners in the field.

Knapp developed this book as a tool students and clinical providers or counselors can easily refer to when researching practice principles that are necessary to initiate smooth communication and effective therapeutic communication when working with other professionals and patients. Knapp takes the approach of addressing single therapeutic communication skills, such as empathy and validation, and then provides a reason or rationale for using those skills.

Further, Knapp does an excellent job of providing suggestions for counselors looking for dialogue that will help them use these tools with clients. For example, Knapp discusses "how important nonjudgmental attitudes are" (p. 18) when working to build therapeutic communication. He also addresses problems he refers to as ego problems, encouraging the clinician and patient to engage in therapeutic communication that will "rescind the ego" (p. 10). Knapp claims "facilitating a conducive environment" (p. 33) is essential to the success of counselors or students adopting the principles outlined in this remarkable text.

Other important topics addressed in Knapp's comprehensive work include strategies for "building rapport" (p. 33) which naturally leads to more therapeutic communication and discusses practice principles so a therapeutic, mutually beneficial relationship can form between the therapist and client without overstepping "boundaries" in a clinical environment (p. 15).

Analysis

This book will prove useful for counselors in training and in the field by providing them ample knowledge of the complex differences that exist in relationships among children, adults, teenagers, peers and more. Knapp focuses on teaching by example, by providing dialogue boxes clinicians can use to practice their therapeutic skills development on patients. Knapp also focuses on teaching counselors how to balance emotional dynamics that often come into play in a therapeutic setting. These include for example, transference of feeling, self-awareness and the "inevitable termination of the client/counselor relationship" (Knapp, 2007: 29).

Most helpful in this book is a live transcription of sessions with clients that help counselors learn how to engage in short-term therapeutic communication and transcripts that teach counselors how to terminate relationships. Students working at the graduate level and professionals working in social services or counseling can all benefit by the tools presented in this easy-to-use guidebook.