The third form of clari?cation is the most basic. It’s used when you don’t quite hear what a client said and you need to recheck.

• “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite hear that. Could you repeat what you said?”

• “I couldn’t make out what you said. Did you say you’d be going home after the session?”

There are times during interviews when you do not understand what clients are saying. There are also times when your clients are not sure what they are saying or why they are saying it. Of course, the worst possible scenario is when neither of you has any sense of the meaning or purpose of what’s being said. Sometimes, the appropriate response is to wait, as Luborsky suggests, for understanding to come. However, other times, 66 Listening and Relationship Developmentit is necessary to clarify precisely what clients are talking about. There are also times when clients need to clarify something you’ve said.

Brammer provides two general guidelines for clarifying. First, admit your confusion over what the client has said. Second, “try a restatement or ask for clari?cation, repetition, or illustration” . Asking for a speci?c example can be especially useful because it encourages clients to be concrete and speci?c rather than abstract and vague.

From the interviewer’s perspective, there are two main factors to consider when deciding whether to use clari?cation. First, if the information appears trivial and unrelated to therapeutic issues, it is best to simply wait for the client to move on to a more productive area. It can be a waste of time to clarify minor details that are only remotely related to interview goals. For example, suppose a client says, “My stepdaughter’s grandfather on my wife’s side of the family usually has little or no contact with my parents.” This presents an excellent opportunity for the interviewer to listen quietly. To attempt a clari?cation response might result in a lengthy entanglement with distant family relationships.