To make effective personalized responses, we must first establish a base of communication. When we have made multiple responses that incorporate accurately the content, feeling and meaning expressed by the helpees, we say that we have established an interchangeable base of communication. This interchangeable base provides us with an opportunity to check the accuracy of our understanding of what the helpees have been communicating to us. It also provides an opportunity for the helpees to find out if we are willing and able to understand what they are telling us. We can be “additive” in our communications only after we have first been “interchangeable.” The establishment of an interchangeable base of communication is critical to any helping relationship.
ESTABLISHING AN INTERCHANGEABLE BASE OF COMMUNICATION
In building an interchangeable base of communication, the helpees will inform us directly, through their behaviors, of their readiness to move from exploration to understanding. They alert us by demonstrating their ability to sustain self-exploratory behavior. In other words, the helpees inform us of their readiness for movement to the next level by doing for themselves the things that we have been doing for them.
HELPEES SHOW THEIR READINESS TO MOVE FROM EXPLORATION TO UNDERSTANDING