How to Coach Yourself and Others Empowering Coaching And Crisis Interventions | Page 55

This book is in B&W, not color - Print page in Grayscale for Correct view! SUMMARIES Rationale: Summaries are used judiciously to relate or link what clients have already expressed, especially in terms of reflecting ambivalence, and to move them on to another topic or have them expand the current discussion further. Summaries require that therapists listen very carefully to what clients have said throughout the session. Summaries are also a good way to either end a session (i.e., offer a summary of the entire session), or to transition a talkative client to the next topic. Examples of Summaries:  “It sounds like you are concerned about your cocaine use because it is costing you a lot of money and there is a chance you could end up in jail. You also said quitting will probably mean not associating with your friends any more. That doesn’t sound like an easy choice.”  “Over the past three months you have been talking about stopping using crack, and it seems that just recently you have started to recognize that the less good things are outweighing the good things. That, coupled with your girlfriend leaving you because you continued to use crack makes it easy to understand why you are now committed to not using crack anymore.” THERAPEUTIC PARADOX Rationale: Paradoxical statements are used with clients in an effort to get them to argue for the importance of changing. Such statements are useful for clients who have been coming to treatment for some time but have made little progress. Paradoxical statements are intended to be perceived by clients as unexpected contradictions. It is hoped that after clients hear such statements clients would seek to correct by arguing for change (e.g., “Bill, I know you have been coming to treatment for two months, but you are still drinking heavily, maybe now is not the right time to change?”). It is hoped that the client would counter with an argument indicating that he/she wants to change (e.g., “No, I know I need to change, it’s just tough putting it into practice.”). Once it is established that the client does want to change, subsequent conversations can involve identifying the reasons why progress has been slow up to now. When a therapist makes a paradoxical statement, if the client does not respond immediately by arguing for change, the therapist can then ask the client to think about what was said between now and the next session. Sometimes just getting clients to think about their behavior in this challenging manner acts as an eye-opener, getting clients to recognize they have not made changes. Therapeutic paradoxes involve some risk (i.e., client could agree with the paradoxical statement rather than arguing for the importance of change), so they are reserved for times later in treatment when clients are not making changes and may or may not be aware of that fact. Such clients often attend sessions regularly but make no significant progress toward changing the risky/problem behavior for which they sought treatment. Another reason for caution is such statements can have a negative effect on clients. Lastly, the therapist must be sure to sound genuine and not sarcastic. When using the therapeutic paradox, the therapist should be prepared that clients may decide that they do not want to change at this time. In such cases the reasons can be discussed, and the therapist can suggest that perhaps it might be a good idea to take a “vacation” from treatment. In such instances, therapists can tell clients that they will call them in a month or so to see where they are in terms of readiness to change. Another way to think about what a therapeutic paradox is doing is reflecting the person’s behavior in an amplified manner. For [email protected] Property of Bookemon, do NOT distribute 55