Psychotherapy joint session

I recently had a joint session with a psychotherapist and a patient with a severe expressive aphasia who is communicating via gesture, speech, writing, drawing and spelling out words on an AAC. The psychotherapist was also trained as a councellor, meaning there was a bit of cross over.

What is psychotherapy? Psychotherapy aims to help clients gain insight into their difficulties or distress, establish a greater understanding of their motivation, and enable them to find more appropriate ways of coping or bring about changes in their thinking and behaviour.
Psychotherapy involves exploring feelings, beliefs, thoughts and relevant events, sometimes from childhood and personal history, in a structured way with someone trained to help you do it safely.

What Happened?
The patient was able to communicate large amounts of complex information when supported by two people. I frequently summarised my understanding of what the patient was communicating in order to give him feedback. I also stated that i didn't think i understood when the patient was unclear. The psychotherapist verbalised and reflected feelings the patient may have been experiencing as he described what happened to him when he had his stroke.

What I learnt

1. Summarising -pt. responded positively to his communication being summarised verbally.
2. Feedback - the patient initiated different strategies when he realised i had not understood.
3. Reflecting - the patient responded well to the psychotherapist verbally empathising with him and discussing feelings.
4. Topic - the patient was motivated to discuss his family and the events surrounding his stroke.