My T makes a lot of eye contact, including when he's bringing up/we're discussing difficult things. If it's something I have trouble talking about, whether I'm embarrassed, feel shame, am worried about how he'll react, etc., I'll often stare at the floor or off to the side, sometimes at my hands. I usually try to look at him after I'm done saying whatever it is, but often very tentatively. He's usually looking at me already when I do that. I find that eye contact helps with the connection, and I generally try to be sure to hold his eye contact when we shake hands at the end, so I can sort of see that everything is OK.