How to Coach Yourself and Others Empowering Coaching And Crisis Interventions | Page 39

This book is in B&W, not color - Print page in Grayscale for Correct view! Empowerment and Change : The Purpose of Counselling Motivation and the stages of change Clients may have made conscious decisions to change and their motivation may be high, but they may also have mixed feelings about replacing established behaviour with new ways of behaving. Sometimes change involves a “selling” job, but the results are better when clients, not counsellors, do the selling. Clients need to convince themselves that the benefits of change outweigh the risks, and they need to develop positive attitudes and beliefs about their capacity for change. Counsellors with a strengths perspective believe in the capacity of their clients to change, and this belief in them can be a powerful motivating factor. Motivation initiates and drives the change process. Johnson, McClelland, and Austin (2000) identify three factors important for motivation: “the push of discomfort, the pull of hope that something can be done to relieve the problem or accomplish a task, and internal pressures and drives toward reaching a goal” (p. 133). Thus, not only must clients want to change, but they must also believe in their capacity for change. Change is stressful; it requires risk and energy to give up established patterns of behaviour and thinking. Clients differ in the extent to which they have the skill or energy to take the associated risks. The following are the essential elements of high motivation: 1. willingness to engage in the work of counselling 2. commitment to devote energy and resources to the change process 3. capacity to sustain effort over time and in the face of obstacles 4. sufficient self-esteem to sustain the courage to change (Shebib, 1997, p. 252) Counsellors can assess clients based on these four elements, and then design appropriate strategies to meet each clie nt’s particular need. These four elements suggest two major motivational tasks for counsellors: engaging clients to commit to change and supporting and energizing clients as they deal with the stresses of obstacles to change. The concept of secondary gain is a useful way of understanding why some people resist change despite the obvious pain or losses involved in maintaining their current situation. Secondary gain refers to the benefits that people derive from their problems. These benefits may include “increased personal attention, disability compensation, and decreased responsibility, as well as more subtle gratifications, such as satisfying the need for self-punishment or the vengeful punishment of others who are forced to take responsibility” (Nicoli, 1988, p. 13). Some clients can be exceptionally difficult and frustrating to work with. Sometimes it’s hard to do, but we should discipline ourselves to be nonjudgmental regarding motivation. Although it might be tempting to label some clients as unwilling, passive or lazy, we should remember that they may have given up for good reason. Perhaps society has not provided the resources or support they need for change. Clients may have given up to protect themselves from the further damage to their self-esteem that would come from repeated failure. In this way their behaviour may be seen as adaptive. It’s normal for counsellors to lose patience with them and give up, but it’s important to remember that that’s precisely what they did to themselves—give up. That’s one of the reasons they need counselling. For [email protected] Property of Bookemon, do NOT distribute 39