Summaries

Two male friends drinking coffee and talking in outdoor cafe. People sitting at table with blurred view in background. Coffee break concept. Front view.

Summaries, like reflections, help the person know you are truly listening to them. Summaries differ from reflections in that they synthesize key elements of what a person said or expressed and are rephrased back to them with the intent of helping them make sense of their thoughts and feelings.

Summaries should not retell every detail, but rather pick out key information to create a full story that will help the person move forward in their decision to make a change. Summaries should also have a natural flow and follow a logical train of thought. Important things to include in summaries are hints of change talk, situations where the person may feel ambivalent, or even educated guesses about what a person may be thinking or feeling. Summaries give the person an opportunity to clarify what they meant and help them see the bigger picture they have painted.

You can use summaries in many situations. It may be helpful to summarize to highlight understanding, point out ambivalence, reinforce change talk, switch to a new subject, or wrap up a conversation.

Below are some sentence starters which often help lead into a summary.

            “Let’s see if I understand what you are saying…”

            “Let’s take a step back and look at all of the pieces…”

            “From what you just told me, it sounds like…”

You can also give the person an opportunity to correct any misunderstandings by asking things like:

            “Did I get that right?”

            “What did I miss?”

            “What other information do you want to add?”

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