We have been working for decades with clients presenting with self-destructive habits like self-injury, substance abuse, bulimia and binge eating, problem gambling, and cyber-porn. Many of these clients have already had multiple unsuccessful treatment experiences and often are pressured to see us by their intimate partners or parents to eliminate their problematic habits. Two major […]

With a given family, each family member may be in a different stage of readiness to change at the beginning of counseling. For example, it is not uncommon for some fathers and adolescents being forced to go for therapy to be in the precontemplative stage of readiness to change that is, they do not see […]

When we are truly present with our clients, that is listening deeply and generously to their problem stories and they acknowledge that they feel felt and understood by us, can greatly contribute to strengthening the alliance building process with them. Therapeutic presence is not just listening to our clients with a third ear but it […]

One of the most important client extra-therapeutic factors therapists must attend to is, honoring clients’ preferences. Our belief is that all clients know what is best for them and as therapists we need to best meet their needs and wishes for what their visions are for the most ideal therapeutic experience. They should take the […]

Many therapists underestimate their clients’ resourcefulness, creativity, and resilience and make the assumption that client self-generated pretreatment changes are flukes and lack staying power. The fact of the matter is, a growing number of studies and clinical practice experience indicates that clients’ self-generated pretreatment changes and self-healing processes persist well beyond the conclusion of therapy […]

The Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung was the first pioneer to write about and study clients’ meaningful coincidences. While closely listening to his clients’ share their stories about their meaningful coincidences, he discovered that they gained some valuable insight about themselves and their life situations, which can be put to practical use for self-empowerment and change. […]

In our clinical practices, we regularly work with clients plagued by serious self-destructive difficulties, such as self-injury, eating disorders, substance abuse, and problem gambling. Many of these clients had either stopped engaging in their choice self-destructive habits on their own prior to being seen by us, had patterns of going for long stretches of time […]