Attending skills show the client that the counselor is present, engaged, and listening. The counselor can be attending through eye contact, body language, facial expressions, and mindful responses to client statements. A counselor who is not attending will appear distracted, disinterested, and probably miss important cues.
In this example, a client is anxious about an upcoming job interview to the point where she is really struggling. The unskillful counselor is distracted and appears to be missing the mark. The skillful counselor uses body language, eye contact, and other means to demonstrate attending throughout the session.