Essay Grade

Help Clients Determine What Kind of Change
They Need or Want LO 10.1
Therapy should be client driven. The degree of change sought is in the client’s hands. While
focusing on trivial issues and insignificant life changes is to be avoided, a complete personality
makeover is an unrealistic goal. But consider Charles Colson, President Nixon’s “hatchet man,”
sent to jail in 1974 for obstructing justice. He converted to Christianity and changed his life
radically. When he died in 2012 he had written some 30 books; received 15 honorary doctorates
for his non profit work in prison ministry, prisoner rehabilitation, and prison reform; had been
given the Templeton Prize for an “exceptional contribution to affirming life’s spiritual dimension”;
and was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal. It seems that Colson was high on the list of “100
percenters,” people who give their all to any task they undertake. Most change falls somewhere
between a teenager’s upset over a lost girlfriend and the Colsons of the world. This is not to belittle
the teenager’s agony. But there are goals and there are goals. Some are part of daily life and some
deserve the title “stretch” goals.
Help Clients Distinguish Needs from Wants
In answering the question “How much change do clients need?” perhaps we need to ask another:
“What kind of change does the client need?” In some cases, what clients want and what they need
coincide. The lonely person wants a better social life and needs some kind of community to live a
more engaging human life. In other cases, what clients want differs from what they need. Goal
setting should focus on the package of needs and wants that makes sense for this particular client.
Discrepancies must be worked out with the client. Consider the case of Irv.
Irv, a 41-year-old entrepreneur, collapsed one day at work. He had not had a physical in years. He
was shocked to learn that he had both a mild heart condition and multiple sclerosis. His future was
uncertain. The father of one of his wife’s friends had multiple sclerosis but had lived and worked
well into his 70s. But no one knew what the course of the disease would be. Because he had made
his living by developing and then selling small businesses, he wanted to continue to do this, but it
was too physically demanding. What he needed was a less physically demanding work schedule.
Working 60–70 hours per week, even though he loved it, was no longer in the cards. Furthermore,
he had always plowed the money he received from selling one business into starting up another.
But now he needed to think of the future financial well-being of his wife and three children. Up to
this point, his philosophy had been that the future would take care of itself. It was very wrenching
for him to move from a lifestyle he wanted to one he needed.
Involuntary clients often need to be challenged to look beyond their wants to their needs. One
woman who voluntarily led a homeless life was attacked and severely beaten on the street. But she
still wanted the freedom that came with her lifestyle. When challenged to consider the kinds of
freedom she wanted, she admitted that freedom from responsibility was at the core. “I want to do
what I want to do when I want to do it.” It was her choice to live the way she wanted. The counselor
helped her explore the consequences of her choices and tried to help her look at other options.
How could she be “free” and not at risk? Was there some kind of trade-off between what she
wanted and what she needed? In the end, of course, the decision was hers.
In the following case, the client, dogged by depression, was ultimately able to integrate what he
wanted with what he needed.
Milos had come to the United States as a political refugee. The last few months in his native land
had been terrifying. He had been jailed and beaten. He got out just before another crackdown.
Once the initial euphoria of having escaped had subsided, he spent months feeling confused and
disorganized. He tried to live as he had in his own country, but the North American culture was
too invasive. He thought he should feel grateful, and yet he felt hostile. After 2 years of misery, he
began seeing a counselor. He had resisted getting help because “back home” he had been “his own
man.”
In discussing these issues with a counselor, it gradually dawned on him that he wanted to
reestablish links with his native land but that he needed to integrate himself into the life of his host
country. He saw that the accomplishment of both these broad aims would be very freeing. He
began finding out how other immigrants who had been here longer than he had accomplished this
goal. He spent time in the immigrant community, which differed from the refugee community. In
the immigrant community, there was a long history of keeping links to the homeland culture alive.
But the immigrants had also adapted to their adopted country in practical ways that made sense to
them. The friends he made became role models for him. The more active he became in the
immigrant community, the more his depression lifted.
In this case, goals responded to a mixture of needs and wants. If Milos had focused only on one or
the other, he would have remained unhappy.
Understand the Continuum between First-Order and SecondOrder Change
First-order and second-order change are terms usually used when talking about organization or
institutional change. First-order change is operational, while second-order change tends to be
strategic. But the distinction relates in important ways to goal setting in therapy. Singhal, Rao, and
Pant (2006) highlight the differences between first-order and second-order change as follows:
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Adjustments to the current situation versus changing the underlying system
Motoring on as well as possible versus creating something new
Change that might prove temporary versus change that is designed to endure
Shoring up or fixing versus transforming
Changed based on old learning or no learning versus changed based on new learning
Change driven by the current set of values and behaviors versus change driven by a fundamental
shift in values and behaviors
The persistence of an old narrative versus the creation of a new narrative
Fiddling with symptoms versus attacking causes
Given these characteristics, it is not surprising that in much of the literature, second-order change
is seen, not just as a form of substantial change, but also as “good” or “real” change. First-order
change is seen as the “little brother” of second-order change. Second-order change means rolling
up our sleeves and resetting the system, while first-order change means tinkering or coping with
the system. Second-order change deals with causes, while first-order change deals with symptoms.
Second-order change resolves the problem, while first-order change leaves the underlying problem
in place and deals mostly with the easily seen manifestations of the problem.
However, I do not think things are that simple. It might be more useful to see change as a
continuum with minor change (first-order change) at one end and major change (second-order
change) at the other. First-order change has its uses. Sometimes it is the only kind of change
possible. Consider this case.
Algis and Rodaina have been married for almost five years. He is 42-years-old. She is 31-yearsold. He is the son of Lithuanian immigrants. She emigrated from Palestine. They are both
nominally Catholic, but come from quite different Catholic traditions. Both work. They have no
children even though they have always “intended” to. They find themselves constantly squabbling
more and more over a range of issues, some important, many relatively trivial. These constant
squabbles are undermining their relationship. Every once in a while it all erupts into a very nasty
argument. They are headed for deeper trouble.
During a session with their pastor, he suggests that they should begin to think seriously about
having a child. “You’ve become too preoccupied with yourselves and your differences. A child
will change everything. It will help you get out of yourselves. Love will take the place of strife.”
He urges them to see a marriage counselor.
They do spend a few, at times stormy, sessions with a marriage counselor. He tries to help them
talk with one another more constructively. He teaches them listening and responding skills. He
coaches them on how to discuss their grievances with each other fairly and decently. He helps
them engage in problem solving around key problems such as finances. There is some progress,
but it is inconsistent—one step forward, one step backwards, one step sideways. The prognosis
does not look good. Eventually they stop seeing him. “We’re getting nowhere anyway.”
Let us skip what their pastor said for the moment. Looking at their sessions with the counselor, we
can ask ourselves the following questions:
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Were Algis and Rodaina making adjustments to their current situation or were they trying to
reset or reinvent their relationship?
Were they trying to motor on the best they could or were they trying to create something new?
Were the changes they were making likely to be lasting or were they still in danger of falling
back into their old ways?
Were they striving for incremental improvement or transforming their relationship?
Were they learning small steps toward making their relationship work or were they learning what
a renewed relationship would look like?
Was their usual set of values and behaviors still in place or were they working toward a
fundamental shift in their values and behaviors?
Were they creating a new “narrative” or was the old narrative still in place?
Were they fiddling with symptoms or dealing with causes?
Helping Algis and Rodaina reduce the frequency and the intensity of their squabbling smacks of
first-order change. Helping them take a good look attheir current relationship and changing the
style and terms of that relationship is closer to second-order change. But it is up to them, with the
help of their counselor, to ask themselves the kind of questions listed above and make their own
choices.
Choosing an adaptive, rather than a stretch, goal has been associated with coping (Coyne &
Racioppo, 2000; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000; Lazarus, 2000; Snyder, 1999). All human beings
cope rather than conquer at times. In fact, in human affairs as a whole, coping probably outstrips
conquering. And sometimes people have no other choice. It’s cope or succumb. For some, coping
has a bad reputation because it seems to be associated with mediocrity. But in many difficult
situations helping clients cope is one of the best things helpers can do.
Coping, although a form of first-order change, often has an enormous upside. A young mother
with three children has just lost her husband. Someone asks, “How’s she doing?” The response,
“She’s coping quite well.” She’s not letting her grief get the better of her. She is taking care of the
children and helping them deal with their sense of loss. She’s moving along on all the tasks that a
death in a family entails. At this stage, what could be more positive than that? Often therapy means
healing clients cope.
So how much or what kind of change do clients need? It depends. They are in the driver’s seat.
They must make the decisions. The more you know about the ins and outs of goal setting and
change, the more capable you are of helping them make the life-enhancing decisions that suit them.
Master the Art of Setting and Accomplishing
Goals LO 10.2
In many ways Stages II and III together with the Action Arrow are the most important parts of the
helping model because they are about problem-managing outcomes in an approach to helping
that is client-directed and outcome-informed (CDOI). It is here that counselors help clients develop
and implement programs for constructive change. In Stages II and III, counselors help clients ask
and answer the following two commonsense but critical questions: “What outcomes do I want?”
and “What do I have to do to get them?” This chapter deals with the first question. Chapter
11 focuses on the second.
Recognize the Power of Goal Setting
Goal setting, whether it is called that or not, is part of everyday life. We all do it all the time.
Why do we formulate goals? Well, if we didn’t have goals, we wouldn’t do anything. No one
cooks a meal, reads a book, or writes a letter without having a reason, or several reasons, for doing
so. We want to get something we want through our actions or we want to prevent or avoid
something we do not want. These desires are beacons for our actions; they tell us which way to
go. When formalized into goals, they play an important role in problem solving. (Dorner, 1996, p.
49)
Even not setting goals is a form of goal setting. If we do not name our goals that does not mean
that we do not have any. Instead of overt goals, then, we have a set of covert goals. These are our
default goals. They may be enhancing or limiting. We do not like the sagging muscles and flab we
see in the mirror. But not deciding to get into better shape is a decision to continue to allow the
fitness program to drift.
Because life is filled with goals—chosen goals or goals by default—it makes sense to make
them work for us rather than against us. Goals at their best mobilize our resources; they get us
moving. They are a critical part of the self-regulation system. If they are the right goals for us, they
get us headed in the right direction. There is a massive amount of sophisticated theory and research
on goals and goal setting (Karoly, 1999; Locke & Latham, 1984, 1990, 2002). In their 2002
American Psychologist article, Locke and Latham summarize 35 years of empirical research on
goal setting. According to this research, helping clients set goals empowers them in the following
four ways.
Goals help clients focus their attention A counselor at a refugee center in London described
Simon, a victim of torture in a Middle Eastern country, to her supervisor as aimless and minimally
cooperative in exploring the meaning of his brutal experience. Her supervisor suggested that she
help Simon explore possibilities for a better future instead of focusing on the hell he had gone
through. The counselor started one session by asking, “Simon, if you could have one thing you do
not have, what would it be?” Simon response was immediate. “A friend,” he said. During the rest
of the session, he was totally focused. What was uppermost in his mind was not the torture but the
fact that he was so lonely in a foreign country. When he did talk about the torture, it was to express
his fear that torture had “disfigured” him, if not physically, then psychologically, thus making him
unattractive to others.
Goals help clients mobilize their energy and direct their effort Clients who seem lethargic during
the problem-exploration phase often come to life when asked to discuss possibilities for a better
future. A patient in a long-term rehabilitation program who had been listless and uncooperative
said to her counselor after a visit from her minister, “I’ve decided that God and God’s creation and
not pain will be the center of my life. This is what I want.” That was the beginning of a new
commitment to the arduous program. She collaborated more fully in doing exercises that helped
her manage her pain. Clients with goals are less likely to engage in aimless behavior. Goal setting
is not just a “head” exercise. Many clients begin engaging in constructive change after setting even
broad or rudimentary goals.
Goals provide incentives for clients to search for strategies to accomplish them Setting goals, a
Stage II task, leads naturally into a search for means to accomplish them, a Stage III task. Lonnie,
a woman in her 70s who had been described by her friends as “going downhill fast,” decided, after
a heart-problem scare that proved to be a false alarm, that she wanted to, as she put it, “begin living
again.” She said that the things that scared her most about almost meeting “Mr. Death” was that
she felt that she had already died. But now her “resurrection” served as an incentive to live more
fully. She said, “This time I’m going to live until I really die!”
Clear and specific goals help clients persist Not only are clients with clear and specific goals
energized to do something, but they also tend to work harder and longer. An AIDS patient who
said that he wanted to be reintegrated into his extended family managed, against all odds, to recover
from five hospitalizations to achieve what he wanted. He did everything he could to buy the time
he needed. Clients with clear and realistic goals do not give up as easily as clients with vague goals
or with no goals at all.
One study (Payne, Robbins, & Dougherty, 1991) showed that high-goal-directed retirees were
more outgoing, involved, resourceful, and persistent in their social settings than low-goal-directed
retirees. The latter were more self-critical, dissatisfied, sulky, and self-centered. People with a
sense of direction do not waste time in wishful thinking. Rather, they translate wishes into specific
outcomes toward which they can work. Picture a continuum. At one end is the aimless person; at
the other, there is a person with a keen sense of direction. Your clients may come from any point
on the continuum. Taz knows that he wants to become a better supervisor but needs help in
developing a program to do just that. On the other hand, Lola, one of Taz’s colleagues, doesn’t
even know whether this is the right job for her and does little to explore other possibilities. Any
given client may be at different points with respect to different issues—for instance, mature in
seizing opportunities for education but aimless in developing sexual maturity. Most of us have had
directionless periods in one area of life or another at one time or another.
Remember That Therapy Is Both Art and Science
The answer to the question “Is therapy an art or a science?” is “Yes.” It is a product of the social
sciences (not the “hard” sciences such as physics or chemistry, so it is imperative that therapists
adapt and tailor its research findings to the needs of clients. Therapists with a design-thinking
mentality help clients design rather than set goals. They help clients design their future. Design is
usually associated with the arts. But, as we have seen, there is a movement to incorporate “design
thinking” into problem management (Ambrose & Harris, 2010; Lockwood, 2010) or vice versa.
Ill-defined problems constitute the starting point of design thinking which moves on to acquiring
a deeper understanding of the context of the problem. This kind of thinking highlights creativity
in the search for insights and solutions. Design thinking often starts with the goal, and then moves
between the present and the future in the search for creative solutions. The ultimate challenge is to
fit the solution to the context.
As you can see, much of design thinking sounds like some of the main themes of the art of
problem management. Therapy needs to be both rigorous and softedged. There is both art and
science in what we do. There is an art to helping clients explore possibilities for a better future
before nailing down one possibility or a particular set. While a lot of the books on design thinking
are focused on business (Merholz, Wilkens, Schauer, & Verba, 2008), they still provide the
principles underlying such thinking. Stanford offers a Design Thinking Boot Camp that is
associated with its business school. There are a number of design-thinking programs for higher
education and for educators in general (Bell, 2010). IDEO, a global design firm, relates design
thinking to creating a more desirable future in the face of difficult challenges. Sounds like Stage
II of the problem-management process. Some see design thinking as nonsense, perhaps because of
the way it mixes art and reason, but I see it as a softer-edged contribution to the helping professions
that can help produce hard-edged results.
Appreciate the Role of Hope in Therapy
Stage II is about yet-to-be-realized outcomes. It’s about the future. And so hope, another softedged concept or experience that can have a hard-edged impact on therapeutic outcomes, is
involved. Hope, as part of human experience, is as old as humanity. Who of us has not started
sentences with “I hope … ”? Hope plays a key role in both developing and implementing
possibilities for a better future. An Internet search reveals that scientific psychology has not always
been interested in hope (R. S. Lazarus, 1999; Stotland, 1969). But our clients are.
Rick Snyder, who, as we have seen earlier, has written extensively about the positive and
negative uses of excuses in everyday life (Snyder & Higgins, 1988; Snyder, Higgins, & Stucky,
1983), became a kind of champion for hope (1994, 1995, 1997, 1998; McDermott & Snyder, 1999;
Snyder, McDermott, Cook, & Rapoff, 1997; Snyder, Michael, & Cheavens, 1999). Indeed, he
linked excuses and hope in an article entitled “Reality negotiation: From excuses to hope and
beyond” (1989). He died in 2006 and the encomiums he received at the time of his death from his
colleagues at the University of Kansas indicated how well he lived what he preached.
In psychological terms hope in therapy is sometimes called “expectancy.” Or, because
expectancies can be positive, neutral, or negative, the term “positive-outcome expectancy bias” is
used. There is plenty of evidence to show that clients who expect therapy outcomes to be positive
have a better chance of achieving positive outcomes. At any rate, hope and expectancy can play
an important role in therapy (Reiter, 2010; Westra, Constantino, & Aviram, 2011— an Internet
search will give you dozens of articles).
Over the course of history there have been different takes on hope. But even in science there are
positive views of hope and some research backing them up. Jerome Groopman (2004), who holds
a chair of medicine at Harvard Medical School, in a very moving book on the anatomy of hope,
defines it “as the elevating feeling we experience when we see—in the mind’s eye—a path to a
better future. Hope acknowledges the significant obstacles and deep pitfalls along that path. True
hope has no room for delusion” (p. xiv). His search for a scientific basis for understanding the key
role that hope plays in dealing with illness takes him to the “biology” of hope. His book also shows
how counseling is at the heart of medical practice.
Snyder, on the other hand, started with the premise that human beings are goal directed and
relates hope to the goal-setting process. According to Snyder, hope is the process of:
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Thinking about one’s goals—for instance, Serena is determined that she will give up smoking,
drinking, and soft drugs now that she is pregnant.
Having the will, desire, or motivation to move toward these goals—Serena is serious about her
goal because she has seen the damaged children of mothers on drugs, and she is also, at heart, a
decent, caring person.
Hope is a dimension of the problem-management process. Serena is hopeful. If we say that Serena
has “high hopes,” we mean that her goal is clear, her sense of agency (or urgency) is high, and that
she is realistic in planning the pathways to her goal. Both a sense of agency and some clarity
around pathways are required.
Hope, of course, has emotional connotations. But it is not a free-floating emotion. Rather, it is
the by-product or outcome of the work of setting goals, developing a sense of agency, and devising
pathways to the goal. Serena feels a mixture of positive emotions—elation, determination,
satisfaction—knowing that “the will” (agency) and “the way” (pathways) have come together.
Success is in sight even though she knows that there will be barriers—for instance, the ongoing
lure of tobacco, wine, and soft drugs.
Snyder (1995, pp. 357–358) combed the research literature in order to discover the benefits of
hope as he defines it. Here is what he found.
The advantages of elevated hope are many. Higher as compared with lower hope people have a
greater number of goals, have more difficult goals, have success at achieving their goals, perceive
their goals as challenges, have greater happiness and less distress, have superior coping skills,
recover better from physical injury, and report less burnout at work, to name but a few advantages.
An article in the Harvard Heart Letter (August, 2008) highlights the benefits of hope but counsels
balance: “Hope is a powerful force. It can sustain you through personal tragedy or can carry you
through the dark tunnel of disease. A sense of realism matters, too, grounding hope before it flits
into fantasy” (p. 2).
Become Competent in the Three Tasks of Stage II
Stage II is about helping clients design a better future for themselves. As Gelatt (1989) noted, “The
future does not exist and cannot be predicted. It must be imagined and invented” (p. 255). The
interrelated tasks of Stage II (see Figure 10.1) outline three ways in which helpers can partner with
their clients with a view to exploring, designing, and developing this better future. These three
interrelated tasks are as follows:
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Task II-A—Develop Problem-Managing Possibilities. “What possibilities do I have for a
better future?” “What are some of the things I think I want?” “What about my needs?” “What
would my problem situation look like if it were being managed well?” In helping clients move
from problems to solutions, counselors help them develop a sense of hope.
Task II-B—Choose Outcomes with Impact. “What do I really want and need? What outcomes
will manage my problem situation and/or help me develop some unused opportunity?” Here
counselors help clients craft a viable change agenda from among the possibilities.
Task II-C—Demonstrate Commitment. “What am I willing to pay for what I want?” Help
clients discover incentives for the work needed to achieve these outcomes.
In actual counseling sessions, Stage I and Stage II are intermingled. Stories lead to the discovery
of problem-managing goals, then there is often a return to the story and new perspectives emerge,
and this leads tom the modification of the goals. At noted in Chapter 8, clients engage in small or
large actions that move this entire process forward.
A goal is some desired state. Clive, a young man in DUI trouble realized that an essential goal
was to stop drinking. But a goal is just an idea until it is accomplished. An accomplished goal is
an outcome, and, as we have seen therapy is about life-enhancing outcomes for clients. Clive,
perhaps driven by the fear of jail time for one more DUI citation, joined AA, conscientiously
followed the program, and stopped drinking—an essential outcome. But there is one more
important factor or dimension. The outcome must have the desired impact on the client’s life, that
is, it must be a problem-managingoutcome (or opportunitydeveloping outcome), which it was in
Clive’s case. He no longer had to fear another DUI citation as long as he avoided alcohol. In a
sense we can say that Clive “solved” his problem. In many ways, outcomes are more important
than actions through which they are achieved. Although Clive chose the AA program, he could
have cut his addiction to alcohol in other ways.
FIGURE 10.1
The Three Tasks of Stage II
Perhaps it is best to avoid the word “solution.” Mathematical problems have solutions, but
problems in living need to be managed rather than solved. Moreover, when it comes to changing
human behavior the term “solution” can mean two different things. An outcome with the desired
impact is a solution with a big S—in Clive’s case eliminating the alcohol habit. The actions leading
to this outcome—his adherence to the AA program—constitute a solution with a small s. Programs
that lead to outcomes are not outcomes themselves. They should not be confused. When facing a
problem situation, some, perhaps many, clients try a variety of solutions-with-a-small-s, that is,
action programs, until they find one that works. This may ultimately be effective, that is, the goal
is accomplished, but some professionals say that this hit-and-miss process leading to the
accomplishment is not very efficient. They contend that people do not tend to learn very much
from this approach, but they keep trying it because “it works.”
Other professionals such as entrepreneurs (Chapter 3) and those who espouse design-thinking
or action-learning approaches to change (Chapter 2) take a much different approach. They contend
that an overly rigorous search for the “one right answer” is not only inefficient but also inhuman.
Clients do not think this way. The messier approach, they say, provides many different kinds of
learning. Messiness is more innovative. Your job is to use approaches that best fit the needs of
your clients. Some will want rigor, others will benefit from a bit of messiness. You will need to
adapt.
II-A: Help Clients Discover Possibilities for a
Better Future LO 10.3
The goal of Task II-A is to help clients develop a sense of direction by exploring possibilities for
a better future. I once was sitting alone at the counter of a late-night diner when a young man sat
down next to me even though all the other stools were empty. The conversation drifted to the
problems he was having with a friend of his. I listened for a while and then asked, “Well, if your
relationship was just what you wanted it to be, what would it look like?” It took him a bit of time
to get started, but eventually he drew a picture of the kind of relationship he could live with. Then
he stopped, looked at me, and said, “You must be a professional.” I believe he thought that I must
be a professional because this was the first time in his life that anyone had ever asked him to
describe some possibilities for a better future.
Reviewing possibilities for a better future often helps clients move beyond the problem-andmisery mind-set they bring with them and develop a sense of hope. It can also help clients
understand their problem situations better—“Now that I am beginning to know what I want, I can
see my problems and unused opportunities more clearly.” This is a common example of the
intermingled nature of the task of the problem-management process.
Christine, a single woman in her mid-thirties, thought that getting the right career would be the
most important thing in life. After receiving an MBA, she got an excellent job in an investment
firm and advanced rapidly, doing better than any other woman in the firm. She was extremely
busy; her life was full. At age 38, she met a very engaging married man and had an affair that
lasted a year. The affair ended abruptly when his wife sued for divorce. Then everything collapsed
for Christine. In her first session with a therapist she said that both her job and the affair were
“meaningless.”
“Meaning” became the main theme of her five sessions over 15 weeks with the therapist. At
times she despairingly argued that the word “meaning” was itself meaningless. But a life without
meaning was worse. After all, her job and even her affair gave some kind of meaning to her life.
“Or,” she would ask, “Did they just give me satisfaction? An ugly word!” At the beginning of one
session, when the therapist asked for feedback on what had happened between sessions, Christine
said, “Meaning is the real thing. Happiness is a byproduct.” They went on to discuss the kinds of
things that would give “the right kind of meaning.” A new career, reconnecting with family,
religion, politics, becoming a social entrepreneur, marriage, children all competed with one
another in her review of meaning.
In the end, Christine discovered for herself that “getting out of myself and getting creatively
involved with others is central to what I want. My whole me-centered life has been a bust.” She
continued to explore possibilities on her own and finally made the decision to become “her kind”
of social entrepreneur.
Too many clients are locked in to the present. Even when they try to use their imaginations, they
think incrementally. The future they envision is not much better than the present they dislike.
Helping clients engage in some kind of “break away” thinking can be invaluable.
At its best, counseling helps clients move from problem-centered mode to “discovery” mode.
Discovery mode involves creativity and divergent thinking. Do an Internet search on creativity
and divergent thinking and you will be overwhelmed by the results. Dean Simonton (2000)
reviewed advances in our understanding and use of creativity as part of positive psychology