3.2 Verbal cues
Attuning yourself to your learners’ conversations about their mental health requires you to both listen and to facilitate the conversation by asking relevant questions. In general, open questions – that is questions that cannot be answered with just a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, or with a static response – are best utilised to stimulate a conversation. Conversations may be in person, or virtually if education is delivered online via email, forums and virtual rooms and/or platforms. Open questions provide opportunities for learners to tell you more about their mental health needs. On the other hand, closed questions usually only elicit a yes/no response and so are limited in their ability to kindle further information.
Activity 4 Identifying open questions
The following grid contains examples of both open and closed questions (in the left-hand column). In the right-hand column, add if the question is open or closed.
| Question | Open or closed? |
|---|---|
| Are you OK? | |
| What support do you have? | |
| How long have you been feeling like this? | |
| Where can you access support? | |
| How are you? | |
| Did you feel like this before starting your course? | |
| Tell me more about how you feel. | |
| Has that helped? | |
| Share some more of your anxious thoughts with me. |
Comment
| Question | Open or closed? |
|---|---|
| Are you OK? | Closed |
| What support do you have? | Open |
| How long have you been feeling like this? | Open |
| Where can you access support? | Open |
| How are you? | Open |
| Did you feel like this before starting your course? | Closed |
| Tell me more about how you feel. | Open |
| Has that helped? | Closed |
| Share some more of your anxious thoughts with me. | Open |
Take note of the closed questions as well as the open questions in the activity above. Closed questions are helpful when trying to clarify what you have heard from the learner is correct, and that it is the full story. This is called paraphrasing, which is a powerful method with the ability to improve the effectiveness of the communication. Paraphrasing is an active listening technique utilised to identify what is being said, agree with the learner, summarise the conversation and establish next steps which may include signposting to support and/or a referral for specialist support. In some situations, it may lead to a safeguarding referral which could otherwise have been missed through lack of information and/or recognition of the seriousness of a learner’s mental health. Educators should be informed of organisational safeguarding procedures in advance and able to act on them.
Throughout your conversations with your learners, it is helpful if you can communicate that you are listening and have heard what is being said. This can be achieved by providing short affirmations such as ‘I see’, ‘Go on’, ‘OK’, etc. It is also useful to observe learners’ vocal cues, and consider the appropriateness of their pitch, volume, speed and tone of voice. Emotions are communicated through changes to the voice and can be difficult to hide. At the end of any mental health conversation, thank the learner for disclosing and talking so openly and acknowledge that these conversations might be difficult for them.
Activity 5 Active listening
Watch the following video on tips for active listening. The tips include being comfortable with silences. Reflect on times when you have felt compelled to fill gaps in conversations with learners. How might you make best use of silences which occur in future conversations?
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Discussion
Actively listening, and allowing for silences, can facilitate difficult conversations and allow the learner to express difficult experiences, thoughts and feelings.