Collaborative influence: Achievable goals towards preferred outcomes Chapter 10 Collaborative influence: Achievable goals towards preferred outcomes By: Noah M.P. Spector and Shaofan Bu

In the client’s favor: Collaborative Influence Clients and counselors are partners in making meaning of the client’s life. This process of meaning-making aims to alter some aspect of present circumstances. This change is directed towards clients’ preferred outcomes.

In the client’s favor: Collaborative influence Responsive counselling is like being a co-pilot in the client’s journey. It involves establishing a balanced positioning between two extremes: Excluding the counselor’s point of view. Img # dv2073125 Telling client what they need And

Collaborative influence How do we determine what a preferred outcome would be for the client? What can we do to ensure that we have a clear and concrete picture of what this would look like?

Advice giving versus facilitative questioning “The right questions are the ones that emerge from being immersed in the client’s world.” (Freedman & Combs, 1993, p.148) In contrast, advice giving can give clients the message they can’t handle the challenge they are facing. Clients may honor their dignity by subtly resisting this sort of intervention.

Advice giving versus facilitative questioning Sometimes clients ask for advice. This is often an opportunity for inviting reflection on the purpose the desired advice might serve. The point is to keep client knowledge at the centre of the therapeutic conversation.

Scaffolding client learning through questions Scaffolding involves “leading from behind”, using questions to join clients in considering what is possible to know. This might include questions which invite clients to take a stand on the counselor’s observations.

Scaffolding client learning through questions (examples)  Advice Giving through Direct Statements  Collaborative Influence through Scaffolded Conversation  You should get more exercise; research shows lack of exercise is a factor in insomnia.   You shouldn’t talk to your teen like that; it will only make them push back harder. Are there any differences in your sleep patterns at the end of an active day? Would you say your son tends to get more, or less, cooperative when you talk to him like that?

Change in manageable increments Questions about client experience should strike a balance between not sufficiently “unusual” and not too “unusual”. This involves building a structure through questions to move with your clients from the known and familiar to what is possible to know.

A collaborative relational posture Decentered counselor stance, infused with curiosity Invokes clients’ expertise and personal agency Learning through participation Counseling conversations as a meeting between two or more experts.

Resistance and Collaboration Sometimes clients and their counselors do not see eye to eye. It is at these moments when impasses can turn into opportunities When clients are not interested in the same things as their counselor it is important for counselors to learn more about client preferences.

Preferred outcome as destination Clients and their counselors are constantly creating and re-creating a map of their journey together. By defining problems and preferences, counselors and clients create waypoints along the way of their journey.

Exceptions: Fragments of preferred outcomes Exceptions are what clients are doing which is working despite the problem. These exceptions are often overlooked; instead they can be explored to discover abilities the client may already have. Counselors find exceptions through their curiosity about what is working in their clients’ lives.

Exceptions Times when problems are absent or diminished Gaps in a problem-saturated story Instances of clients living aspects of previously described preferred futures Moments when clients experience what is valued by them or important to them Clients’ enactments of personal agency

Where goals fit in Problem definition Preferred experience Goals Description of current concern, challenge, issue etc. Preferred experience Description of experience in absence of problem …future situation, final destination. Goals Steps on the journey to a preferred outcome.

Where goals fit in Descriptions of problems provide hints of preferred experience (how the client wants things to be) Description of preferred experience—e.g. through Miracle Questions--hints of problems (what is distressing the client) Goals are milestones in the journey from problem present to preferred future

Miracle question and goals The Miracle Question solicits a detailed account of a future where the problem is absent, or no longer problematic This is not the “goal” but the preferred outcome Goals are the steps the client may now take to reach that destination Goals are not preferences...they are actions that lead to preferences

Martha’s goals: A meandering journey Problem: conflict with sister. Sad about lost connection Worried family is unraveling Distressing to Martha’s boyfriend Preference: harmonious relationship. Civil, if not friendly connection to sister No conflict More family togetherness Goals: Steps to get here there…the milestones change as the journey unfolds

Martha, 23 To get along better with sister Take risk of Destination Steps (ie goals) To get along better with sister Organize & finish paintings Create portfolio Mount a show & invite people Visit sister regularly; Call weekly; Refrain from judgment Find common activities Take risk of sharing her art Talk to mother about unfair treatment Share accomplishments more Meditate on loving kindness To deal with feeling “less than”

Well Defined Goals Positive Representation What you will be doing/feeling/thinking etc. in explicit terms rather than the absence of a problem. “I will phone friends more” vs. “I won’t be lonely”. Process Form Verbs are better than nouns…they bring the picture to life. “I will jog every morning” vs. “More fitness”. Here and Now What can the client start with when they walk out of the session, or even in the session? “I will research universities” vs. “I will decide where to I want to go”. Specific as Possible Generalizations blur the picture. “I will watch videos with my kids” vs. “I will connect with my children more”.

Well Defined Goals Achievable Reaching too far backfires. “I will take time to meditate” rather than “I will attain enlightenment”. Measurable Frequency How often? “I will jog for half an hour three times a week” rather than “I will go for more runs”. Within the Client’s Control Something the client can do, rather than something different in the world. “I will say ‘no’ more often” vs. “The pace of life won’t be so fast and hectic”. In the Client’s Language Based on client’s--rather than therapist’s--worldview, preferences, and ways of speaking. “I will develop my own circle of friends” vs. “I will become less co-dependent”.

Invitation to critical reflection Critical reflection involves a mindful orientation to experience in the moment…“getting a distance” on things Can include considering the consequences of present or future actions. Critical reflection is also important for counselors to evaluate where they sit in relation to their clients. Both sorts of critical reflection involve ongoing inquiry into one’s experience. Critical reflection involves questions that counselors pose to themselves and to their clients.

The role of theory in collaborative influence “When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail” As opposed to intervention based on theory, collaborative influence is an intervention based on what clients bring to the conversation. Collaborative influence helps us avoid turning our theories into hammers and therefore our clients’ problems into nails. Theory can therefore be introduced in a way which invites the client to accept or reject it.