Have you ever been in a situation where you say something that you regret later? For example, \u00a0I was with a close friend the other day trying to “help” her work through some problems. \u00a0The suggestions that I made to her were taken the wrong way and the conversation broke down. \u00a0Purely because I put too many of my own thoughts into the flow.<\/p>\n
It made me think: I wondered whether there was a way we could communicate without putting our own ideas, suggestions and bias forward? \u00a0In my research, \u00a0I came across a whole system of communication that originates in psychotherapy that allows you to do just that!<\/p>\n
The originator of the approach was a guy called David Grove (whom I never met) – who died far too young four years ago in January 2008. \u00a0The ideas behind the system have various names – but one of the best-known terms is that of “Clean Language” – popularised in an\u00a0excellent book published shortly after Grove’s death called “Clean Language”<\/span> by Wendy Sullivan and Judy Rees.<\/p>\n Rooted in the idea that we all live with our own very personal, subjective metaphors, the technique allows the person being questioned to explore those metaphors without any judgement or bias from the interviewer \u00a0or therapist.<\/p>\n The basics of using Clean Language are simple:<\/p>\n 1. “And is there anything else about [client’s words]?”<\/span><\/p>\n 2. “And what kind of [client’s words] is that [client’s words]?”<\/span><\/p>\n 3. “And that’s [client’s words] like what?”<\/span><\/p>\n 4. “And where is [client’s words]?”<\/span><\/p>\n 5. “And whereabouts [client’s words]?”<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n There is a great video on the use of Clean Language in therapy – with some interesting results:<\/p>\n\n