Clean Language

What is Clean Language?

Clean language involves the use of specialised questions, with specific words and phrases, to stay only with the clients content and to avoid introducing any content from the therapist. Clean Language therefore avoids any conscious or unconscious interpretations, assumptions, judgement or presuppositions by the therapist. It is therefore much more respectful and honouring to the client than normal “non-clean” therapeutic language (read more about how we respond to language).

What’s so special about Clean Language?

Introducing the therapist’s own content (by using her own words and phrases rather than the client’s) will interrupt the client’s OWN problem-solving thought processes, cause the client to feel not properly heard or understood and often to encourage the client to then get sidetracked into trying then to solve the problem as perceived by the therapist or to follow the therapist’s perceived solution rather than discovering the solution which is right for the client.

A therapist using Clean Language would instead use a Clean Question which avoids those pitfalls and instead:

1. Recognises and acknowledges the client’s experience

and

2. Keeps focus on what the client wants

The therapist always refers back to the client to discover via the client’s inner process what the CLIENT’S SOLUTION is.