• Open questions are questions that don’t have a yes or no answer. They can help encourage the older person to open up and respond in a number of ways. Simple things like ‘tell me more about that’ ‘how did you feel about it?’ ‘what happened after that?’ can help open up the conversation.
• Reflecting, using the same words the person has used will also show you are listening and encourage them to keep talking.
• Summarising or paraphrasing will help frame the conversation and give a good overview. It shows you’ve been listening. This is something like ‘so you’re saying you didn’t want to do that?’
• Clarifying what someone has told you by ending a statement with, “Is that right?” allows you to understand better and find out more.
• Short words of encouragement like ‘uh-huh’, ‘yes’, ‘hmm’, ‘go on’ help build rapport and demonstrate that you’re listening. It can be difficult to keep talking if you’re not sure the person is paying attention, so encouraging words like that are extremely helpful to show that you’re still there, and you’re still listening.
• Silence – try not to feel the need to immediately fill silences, as that pause can be helpful for letting the older guest gather their thoughts, and feel that they can take their time, that there’s no rush.

In general remember that a gentle tone of voice, a slower pace for the conversation, and not rushing to fill silences will all help the older guest to feel as though there is no hurry, that you have as much time as they need to talk.