Nov 25: Eliciting Feedback as a Therapist
It’s easy to assume clients will tell us if something isn’t working—but most won’t. They might show up less engaged, try to push through, or quietly stop coming. Making feedback a regular part of the process helps prevent that.
Counselors & social workers (and humans) who invite honest feedback tend to have stronger alliances, better retention, and better outcomes overall. This month, we’ll explore how to elicit feedback in ways that feel genuine, relational, and culturally attuned. This is true whether you work in a micro, mezzo, or macro setting (clinical or not).
To Prepare:
Watch (28 min)
YouTube: SupportiveConfrontation with Susie Snyder, LCSW
YouTube: Motivational Interviewing’s OARS framework as a gentle, collaborative way to invite feedback. More details below.
Article: Radical Candor: How to Get Feedback: How to receive feedback skillfully while staying curious and avoiding defensiveness.
Eliciting feedback is both an ethical responsibility and a relational skill. It communicates humility and respect for the client’s lived experience—reinforcing that they are the expert on what works for them.
Benefits of eliciting feedback:
Strengthening the therapeutic alliance by building trust and collaboration.
Improving treatment effectiveness through real-time adjustments.
Catching misalignments early and preventing disengagement or dropout.
Empowering clients to take ownership of their progress.
Supporting professional growth by surfacing blind spots.
Providing ongoing, concrete data to track change over time
As Scott Miller’s research shows, outcomes improve dramatically when we ask for feedback. It’s not about doing something wrong—it’s about creating a space safe enough for clients to tell us the truth.
How to Invite Feedback (Using MI’s OARS Framework)
Motivational Interviewing reminds us that clients are the experts on their experience—including their experience of us. The OARS framework helps feedback feel relational rather than evaluative:
OARS Examples:
Open-ended questions: “What’s been most helpful—or not helpful—about today?”
Affirmations: “I really appreciate you saying that; it helps me understand how to support you better.”
Reflections: “It sounds like I might’ve missed what felt most important there.”
Summaries: “So what I’m hearing is that this pace feels fast, and you’d like more time to process?”
Other gentle openers:
“How is this feeling so far?”
“Did I miss anything important just now?”
“Is there anything I’m doing that gets in the way?”
“What do you wish I better understood about where you’re at?”
When we respond with curiosity instead of defensiveness, we strengthen the therapeutic alliance.
Reflection Prompts
Take a few minutes before our meeting to reflect or jot down notes. You don’t need perfect answers—just honest reflections about your current practice.
How do you currently elicit feedback from clients?
Is it built into your modality or organization’s structure?
Do you have a “go-to” question or moment that opens the door for feedback?
How do you know when a client is making progress? How do they know?
What might make it safer for your clients (or students, patients, or teams) to give you honest feedback?
Optional Materials For Those Who Want to Go Deeper
Articles & Resources
Building Resilient Organizations explores collective feedback and accountability in systems work, connecting
individual client feedback to organizational resilience and anti-oppressive practice.Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT) by Scott D. Miller — includes the ORS (Outcome Rating Scale) and SRS (Session Rating Scale) for session-by-session tracking. (FIT resource base attached).
Justice, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (JEDI) and Feedback
Who in your caseload might feel least empowered when giving negative or constructive feedback?
How can you normalize discomfort and create more accessible feedback channels (language, literacy, cultural resonance)?
How do systems or hierarchies (supervisory, organizational, or cultural) shape who gets heard and who doesn’t?
