helping clients remember to practise between sessions

Submitted by catharina belgraver on February 11, 2009 - 3:58am
Printer-friendly versionSend by email

Hi there,

Does anyone have any tips regarding how to help clients remember to practise the skills learned between sessions?

Thanks,

Catharina

‹ Sound sync problem in no. 4 (mindfulness) of "ACT in Action" DVD set? Malle's "folk psychology" update to attribution theory - any relevance to ACT/RFT? ›

homework: bring a valued part of your context to session

Submitted by john agee on February 11, 2009 - 10:04pm.

Catharina, i would absolutely encourage you to try asking them to bring their babies with them to session as many times as they are willing, if new mothers are the main folks you are working with (i guess this was the part i was in the dark on).

while i don't work with children, in the primary care setting i often see couples and/or adult children with one of their parents, so the same applies. if they're there with the client, they're even moreso a part of the context we're trying to influence and/or change the client's relationship with.

Have fun!

helping clients remember to practise between sessions

Submitted by john agee on February 11, 2009 - 1:10pm.

this one is truly out of our hands as clinicians. nonetheless, here are some pointers:

1) do as much experiential work as you can in each session, to help reduce the common (internal) barrier of being unsure of what or how to practice outside of sessions.

2) help clients experientially realize that being aware of having not been mindful a moment ago is being mindful all over again.

Thanks for your response

Submitted by catharina belgraver on February 11, 2009 - 6:34pm.

Thanks for your response John. I guess part of the problem is that the experiential work during duing therapy happens in a peaceful environment. I work with mothers who have newborn babies, and often toddlers with them at home as well. Perhaps I need to encourage them to bring their babies to a session or 2 so that we can work in a more realistic setting, or get them to make a recording of their baby crying to use in sessions. (A priority of course is to help these mothers discover and embrace the value of creating time for themselves, and that's another story).