Learning to Listen: Essential Skills for Every Counselor

Joesph Hussung does an amazing job laying out the foundation in "Learning to Listen" for why listening is an essential skill for a counselor or anyone in a related field, such as a pastor or minister. To draw the reader in, Hussung not only uses his own stories of struggling to listen but also uses short and quite profound statements to cause the reader to pause and reflect. For example, "God, on the other hand, listens out of love and after he hears, he still loves. No matter how messy the story or difficult the context of our cries, God's love is unfazed and undeterred." This statement sets the tone for the rest of the book of how and why we must listen like our God who loves us. Not only did I feel it set the tone, but it caused me to reflect on my own experience as a counselor. The biggest hurdle a counselee has to coming to counseling, is a fear that their story is too horrible, too much, or too irredeemable to be heard. Hussung addresses these concerns in his writing showing the reader how to attend to our counselees in a way that we reflect the "unfazed and undeterred" qualities of a loving God. Also "Learning to Listen" shows how much a counselor can draw out from a client by learning the different nuances to listening. Hussung teaches the reader not only to learn to pick up on subtleties of the counselee's words, but also how to actively listen, to use reflection, and how to respond to the various pain and suffering our counselees present. New counselors are often concerned about how much scripture they know, when to apply it, which interventions they should use, and what they should say. But, in "Learning to Listen" the reader learns that "listening" is more than just sitting quietly. They learn that they have the skills within them to be an excellent counselor that does not require long hours of study and memorization. As the Counseling Director of a local church counseling ministry, I will be adding this to our counselor's library that is available to our lay, undergrad interns, and graduate intern counselors. Also, our pastors, and ministry staff have access to this library as well. Also, as the site supervisor of the undergrad interns, I will be asking them to read "Learning to Listen" as part of their internship. "Learning to listen" is a new favorite for teaching skills to new counselors as well as a book I will continue to revisit to make sure that I do not stray from the listening skills our loving God has modeled for us.

Learning to Listen has enriched my inventory of tools for ministry. This book helps by identifying listening skills and then guiding application of them to the person "in front of me" as Jesus would encourage us to. This is a well developed resource and a good "go to" when navigating the counseling relationship.

This book emphasizes the powerful role of listening in building meaningful relationships. It argues that to love others well, we must first learn to listen well. As human beings, we are made to be seen and known by both God and each other, yet many of us struggle with being truly understood. Through a biblical perspective, the book highlights how God, who listens to us with care and attention, serves as our ultimate model for listening. It offers practical steps for cultivating this skill, encouraging us to not only listen attentively but to engage in communication that reflects Christ's love. In today's fast-paced culture, where people often speak without truly listening, the art of understanding others has been lost. To communicate with love, we must listen deeply enough to understand the other person before offering our words. Listening is a discipline that requires intentionality, but this book shows that with practice, it can transform our relationships. By truly hearing others, we can make them feel seen and valued, creating opportunities to speak life and encouragement into their lives. This book is a timely and important guide to restoring the art of listening in a world that desperately needs it.

This is a very helpful book for counselors, but anyone who wants to love and listen like Jesus needs to read this book! Dr. Joseph Hussung laid a biblically strong foundation for why we need to listen well, how sin has affected our listening, and how to grow our listening skills. Although the chapters are short (helpful!), they are full of biblical truths, practical advice, and examples to help us apply the concepts. As a counselor who has been counseling for many years, I found this book to be a good refresher with the sections on reflection and confrontation especially helpful.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ A Must-Read on the Art of Listening "Learning to Listen" by Joseph Hussung is a deeply insightful book that challenges the way we approach conversations in counseling. Rather than merely hearing words, Hussung teaches the true art of listening—beginning with a rich theology of God as a listener and then exploring the heart of Christ as the ultimate model of a compassionate listener. What stood out most to me was how practical this book is. The case studies and real-life examples from Hussung’s own counseling experiences were both relatable and thought-provoking. They prompted me to reflect on my own counseling, making it easy to apply the truths from this book to real-life conversations. As someone who trains biblical counselors, this book will now be a key part of my training list. And as someone who has counseled for years, I was personally challenged and convicted to listen more and talk less. This book would be especially valuable for anyone in ministry, counseling, or leadership, but truly, it’s for anyone who wants to deepen their ability to listen and, in doing so, draw people closer to Christ. If you’ve ever felt unheard—or realized you struggle to truly listen—this book is a must-read. Highly recommend!

I loved this book; it made me not only love my Savior more but want to listen like he did and put what I read into practice. It's well-written, fresh and encouraging; Dr. Hussung not only helps us think about listening and gives us practical illustrations, he also reminds us that underneath it all is what matters most--the posture of our hearts.

Although I am not in the same space as Dr. Hussung in terms of professions, I appreciate Learning to Listen. This is an excellent book discussing the importance of listening for the Biblical Counseling process. The truth is, Learning to Listen, provides a theological ground for all counseling as it frames the therapeutic relationship in terms of listening and empathy. Dr. Hussung discusses the (1) way God listens to his people, (2) how his people, especially in Biblical Counseling, should listen first, and (3) discusses important ways to listen that are helpful, supportive, and BIBLICAL. God’s listening to His people is reflected in how His people, especially counselors, listen with empathy. “Empathy is the place from which we utilize the good gifts that God has given us in creation (thinking, feeling, and choosing) for the second greatest purpose for which they were given—loving and listening to people” (18). Dr. Hussung provides very practical steps to listen well with empathy in the remainder of the book. My plan is to use this text in classes I teach that incorporate basic skills of counseling as this text fits that bill with the bonus of a theological grounding of these skills. Tom Frederick, PhD.

After my first read of this, I’m convinced I will be back again. I wish younger me had had this when I first faced a roommate who didn’t see I to eye with me, or in our newlywed days. But I am so thankful for this book now in our season of suffering where I crisscross between my roles as a wife, advocate, counselor. This should be an essential read for every Christian in the church since we are called to bear wfh other’s burdens. Part of bearing burdens is listening. This explanation of a theology of listening was earth-shifting as we see God as the God who hears: “ Such a good explanation of the theology of listening: “ If we move toward the practice or posture of llistening but forget that we were created by a God who listens and loves, then we will never fully grasp the complete scope of God’s vision for the care of his people. We listen to others because God listens to us. We love others because God loves.We need to constantly remind ourselves of God’s love for us and his expression of that love to us in listening as we hear the stories of others.” Just need to post this in every room of my house!

Since reading Joseph’s book, Learning to Listen, I think I have become a little more aware of how I listen. What I mean is that, at times, we all need a good reminder, or maybe even some good insight and tools (like this presents), that help us listen better. As counselors, one of our primary functions is to listen and listen well. I for one can get caught up in speaking/teaching more than I listen. This book was a great reminder of one of the many functions of a counselor and an even better reminder to listen well.

All counseling books outline a "what." Most counseling books propose a "how." A good number of them give a "why." Some of them do all of that, and take hundreds of pages to do so. "Learning to Listen" covers everything required on an essential and often-overlooked skill, and does so in a brief, accessible manner. It's full of heavy spiritual truth, expressed with grace. I not only gained valuable information, but also practical advice. And the clear examples made it easy to apply to my own life and context. I highly recommend it to every counselor, pastor, and Christ-follower!