Ivan Yau Use of Re-presentation In Counseling

Re-presentation Basic Premises 1. Way of presentation affects how the client experiences the life-world. 2. Re-presentation serves as a mirror to help client re-experience in a new way. 3. Deepen client’s self-exploration.

Re-presentation Basic Premises 4. Helps client to increase his awareness through reading these re-presentations. 5. Ensures smooth engagement with clients. 6. Usually opens up narrative spaces and particularly useful in early stage.

When in doubt,…… Sometimes worker may feel confused and lose direction in the interview, then …… At worst, repeating client’s last few sentences, or summing up client’s most important message in mind.

General Principles 1. Responding to client’s strong emotion first. 2. Minimal encouragement – holding on strong emotion, encourage elaboration and further facilitate exploration 3. Usually summing up at most 3 points, with last one for desired elaboration. 4. Enhancing client’s agential position.

General Principles 5. Re-presentation around theme / need and desire, or central character. 6. Reflect the process to client to enhance self-awareness. 7. Connecting behaviors, meaning, emotions, needs and desires to demonstrate empathy. 8. Changing different voices to regulate emotional intensity.

Client’s Response as Useful Guide Be sensitive to client’s response to worker’s previous one: 1. Selective lending 2. Further elaboration / deepening self- exploration 3. Free information 4. Tracking back

Narrative Structure Framework of basic structures (life-world): 1. Time: past, present and future; time marker;…… 2. Space: physical, psychological, virtue,…… 3. Self: agential, ideal Vs perceived,…… 4. Others: relationship with self, …… 5. Needs / Desire: different from ‘want’, socially conditioned, ……

Other Strategies Reflecting immediate process – flow of significant interaction just happened. Connecting with non-verbal response, including silence, which may indicate a sign of internal processing. Tracing back. Selective focusing. Re-presenting the essential ‘absence’.