text: how does a helper preparation to listen in a counseling interview?   if i understand your question correctly - how does one prepare to participate in a counseling interview: you spend the time reviewing the case, where you were in the past sessions and what the next few steps are going to be.  as a (more or less) unbiased observer you generally have an idea of what the underlying problem may be and have to work on getting the interviewee to that realization, overcoming blocks along the way.  if you don't understand the root cause of the problem yet you spend the time discovering more information and filling in the blanks until you do.  sessions are kept short to keep things adaptable.  i hope this helps.