Reflecting Character: Counseling With a Virtue Vocabulary

While professionals in the field of counseling have long established that the micro-skills of empathy help build the therapeutic alliance, over the last decade increasingly more attention has been paid to using language of character, virtue, and strengths. Language of this sort that a counselor strategically uses can not only further support the therapeutic alliance, but also empower clients to develop a strength-based orientation grounded in positive psychology and virtue practice. This article presents a rationale for using a virtue vocabulary with empathic affirmations and emphasizes the benefits to both counselor and client. It also provides examples that highlight therapeutic dialogue using virtue language.