Stage III: Planning the Way Forward
The Three Tasks of Stage III
Mara and Carlos Revisited: Mara’s Goals
Task III-A: Help Clients Develop Strategies for Accomplishing Their Goals
Principles for Helping Clients Discover Viable Strategies for Accomplishing Goals
- • Use Brainstorming to Stimulate Clients’ Thinking
- • Use Frameworks for Stimulating Clients’ Thinking About Strategies
- • Help Clients Determine the Kind of Working Knowledge and Skills They Will Need to Move Forward
Task III-B: Help Clients Choose Best-Fit Strategies
Bud’s Amazing Odyssey
Criteria for Choosing Goal-Accomplishing Strategies
- • Specific Strategies
- • Effective Strategies
- • Realistic Strategies
- • Strategies in Keeping with the Client’s Values
- • Sample, Then Choose
A Balance-Sheet Method for Choosing Strategies Help Clients Link Best-Fit Strategies to Action The Shadow Side of Selecting Strategies
- • Three Pitfalls
- • Striking a Balance 342
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Task III-C: Help Clients Formulate Viable Plans
- • The Case of Frank: No Plan of Action
- • How Plans Add Value to Clients’ Change Programs Shaping the Plan: Two Cases
- • The Case of Harriet: The Economics of Planning
- • The Case of Frank Revisited
Principles for Humanizing the Mechanics of Constructive Change
- • Build a Planning Mentality into the Helping Process Right from the Start
- • Adapt the Constructive-Change Process to the Style of the Client
- • Outline a Plan for the Client and Then Help the Client Tailor It to His or Her Needs
- • Help Clients Develop Contingency Plans Ready-Made Action Programs
- • Ready-Made Therapeutic Interventions: Evidence-Supported Treatments (EST)
- • General Well-Being Programs: Nutrition, Exercise, and Stress Reduction