Therapeutic letters have become a practice adopted by many clinicians as an adjunct to therapeutic conversations. This article presents selected findings from a larger study that examined both the letter-writing practices of nine clinicians as well as the experiences of seven adult clients who received a therapeutic letter or letters during the course of individual or family therapy. A novel aspect of this study is that data from clients were gathered in the form of letters-eight letters written by the clients to the researcher about their experience of receiving a therapeutic letter or letters from their clinician. Thematic analysis guided the analysis of the data. Findings are placed within the context of relationally responsive (or relationally engaged) practice. An invitation is extended to conceptualize letters not as monologic documents but as a means of dialogically relating to clients and to the "goings-on" of therapeutic conversations.

Solution-focused counsellors use ''scaling questions'' to construct understandings of clients' concerns and solutions to them. We examine how these questions are asked and answered, offering evidence of what is constructed from within counselling discourse. Also, clients and counsellors offer their retrospective accounts of their participation in question and answer sequences in their dialogues. We conclude by speaking to the implications we see from this research as it relates to collaborative and resourceful dialogue between counsellors and clients.

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We discuss our findings in the context of therapists' use of exception questions and discussions in therapy and highlight particular conversational practices and sensitivities relevant to engaging clients in such exception discussions.

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