Basic Counseling Skills: Working With People With Aphasia and Their Families

Abstract

Purpose People with aphasia (PWA) and their families experience dramatic changes to many facets of life following stroke or other brain injury. With these changes comes complex loss and grief that can lead to chronic stress and depression, and impact recovery and rehabilitation. Clinicians working with PWA are often unsure how to best address these experiences and reactions. This tutorial introduces an approach to building the therapeutic alliance and navigating challenging conversations with clients and families using basic counseling skills that can be adapted to varying situations and clinical contexts. In addition to demonstrating each skill using example scenarios (Part 1), these skills are applied to the evolving stages of crisis and recovery experienced by many clients with communication impairment and their families—from injury onset to adjustment to chronic aphasia (Part 2). Conclusions Clinicians can adapt a set of basic counseling skills to promote effective therapeutic relationships and change in the lives of their clients across the contexts of recovery and rehabilitation. Although the clinician and client may work together for a relatively limited period of time, these flexible skills can help galvanize client engagement and participation in clinical activities, yield high-quality client information for treatment planning, and motivate clients as they navigate life with aphasia.