what is active listening?
active listening is attending fully to another person to understand their meaning and feeling — reflecting it back — rather than listening only to prepare your reply.
active listening is the difference between waiting to talk and actually hearing someone. it is the core skill of every good support conversation, and almost nobody is taught it. the good news: it is learnable, and the moves are simple.
what it looks like
reflect back what you heard ("so it sounds like you're exhausted and also angry"). ask instead of assume. resist the urge to insert your own similar story. let silence sit. these small moves signal a rare thing: that the other person has your full attention and does not have to perform to keep it.
why it changes the conversation
when someone feels genuinely heard, the pressure drops. they stop defending and start exploring. active listening is not passive — it is the active work of making room for another person's reality without immediately colonizing it with your own.
somewhere to put it
free. anonymous. people who’ve been where you are 🤍
get Resolv Social — it’s freewant the deeper story? read prescribed to fail
questions
what are the key active listening skills?
reflecting back what you heard, asking open questions instead of assuming, tolerating silence, and resisting the urge to redirect to your own experience.
why is active listening important in peer support?
peer support runs on recognition, and recognition requires being heard. active listening is the mechanism that turns "someone is talking at me" into "someone gets it."
keep reading
more from the glossary
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