Relate a Strengths-Based Approach to Resilience

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InterviewingtoUnderstandStrengths.pdf

January 2018, Volume 10, Issue 3

* Correspondence details: Michael R. Hass, Chapman University, Donna Ford Atallah College of Educational Studies. One University Drive,

Orange, CA 92866. Phone 714-628-7217 E-Mail: [email protected]

© 2018 Published by T& K Academic. This is an open access article under the CC BY- NC- ND license. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Interviewing to Understand Strengths

Received: 15 September 2017

Revised: 22 October 2017

Accepted: 29 November 2017

ISSN: 1307-9298

Copyright © IEJEE

www.iejee.com

DOI: 10.26822/iejee.2018336189

Michael R. Hass a,*

Abstract

Interviewing clients about their strengths is an important part of developing a complete understanding of their lives and has several

advantages over simply focusing on problems and pathology. Prerequisites for skillfully interviewing for strengths include the

communication skills that emerge from a stance of not knowing, developing a vocabulary of strengths that allows practitioners to identify

and name them, and having a “ear for strengths.” Building on this, Saleebey (2008) offers a framework of eight types of questions that

allow us to explore strengths in depth with clients.

Keywords: Interviewing, strengths perspective, counseling

Introduction

Mental health professionals have long embraced

interviewing as an important way of gathering

information. There is a long history of the use of

interviewing in making diagnostic decisions and better

understanding client problems. More recently, greater

attention has been placed on giving client strengths and

resources “equal space, equal time, equal emphasis”

(Lopez, Snyder & Rasmussen; 2003, p. 17) as problems

and psychopathology in the interviewing process.

Including strengths is important for several reasons. One

is that when adults recognize children and youths’

strengths, they are more likely to actively take part in the

assessment process and later treatment (Epstein,

Hertzog, & Reid, 2001; Murphy, 2015 Nickerson &

Fishman, 2013). Gathering information about strengths

also broadens the focus of assessment to include

recognizing and building competence rather than only

reducing problem behaviors (Nickerson, 2007; Epstein et

al., 2001). This is important because although reducing

the negative impact of problems is important, evidence

suggests that the presence of personal and social

competence in children is a better predictor of

functioning later in adulthood than the reduction of

symptoms alone (Kohlberg, Ricks, & Snarey, 1972; 1984).

Given this, there is a strong argument to include

assessing and building strengths as part of the counseling

process.

Interviewing for strengths is the mirror image of

interviewing children about their problems. When

interviewing for strengths, counselors make use of the

same communication skills important in clinical

interviewing or in psychotherapy or counseling. These

include the communication skills that emerge from what

has been described as a stance of not knowing (Anderson

& Goolishian, 1992). Anderson and Goolishian (1992)

describe not knowing as “…a general attitude or stance in

which the therapist’s actions communicate an abundant,

genuine curiosity” (p. 29). Skills that communicate this

curiosity exist on a continuum from relatively passive

skills such as nonverbal attending to more active

strategies like paraphrasing and accurately reflecting

feelings (See Table 1 below).

Table 1. Skills for Not Knowing

Less active >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>More active

Nonverbal

attending

Observing

Waiting

Minimal

encouragers

• Nodding

• Ummm, okay,

sure, yes, wow!

Echoing

Paraphrasing &

Summarizing

Complimenting

Normalizing

In addition to these basic skills, interviewing for strengths

also requires a vocabulary of strengths. Although there is

no Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (APA 2013) or

International Classification of Disease (WHO, 1993) for

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316

strengths, there is abundant literature that offer at least a

tentative map of strengths. One source is positive

psychology (Seligman, 2004). Counselors and researchers

in positive psychology have developed assessments and

interventions that focus on increasing subjective well-

being or happiness by promoting the experience of

positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001) or enhancing

qualities such as gratitude (Emmons & Stern, 2013), hope

(Pedrotti, Edwards, & Lopez, 2008) or optimism (Gillham,

Reivich, & Shatté, 2001).

A second important contribution to a map of strengths is

resilience (Masten, 2014). Research on resilience grew out

of research with children whose parents had serious

mental illnesses (Luthar, Cicchetti, & Becker, 2000). The

finding that many of these children did well in life despite

the challenges they faced led researchers to a set of social

and psychological factors that seemed to promote

positive outcomes among children who had faced

adversities such as poverty or abuse (e.g., Garmezy, 1993;

Masten & Curtis, 2000; Rutter, 2013). Researchers found

that although it was true that children exposed to these

adversities often have more psychosocial problems than

those who were not exposed, the large majority still grew

up to lead productive adult lives (e.g., Benard, 2004;

Werner & Smith, 2001; Cicchetti, Rogosch, Lynch, & Holt,

1993).

Masten (2014) has argued there are basic psychosocial

systems that, when functioning well, are universally

protective of human development and form the core of

resilience. These dynamic adaptive systems include: 1)

attachment and close relationships; 2) intelligence,

ingenuity, and problem solving; 3) self-regulation and self-

direction; 4) mastery motivation and sense of personal

agency; and 5) faith, hope and belief that life has meaning

(pp.147-164). Using similar language, Benard (2004)

proposes two broad categories of resilience: personal

strengths, and environmental protective factors. Personal

strengths include: 1) social competence, 2) problem

solving, 3) autonomy, and 4) sense of purpose.

Environmental protective factors can be found in families,

communities, or schools and include: 1) caring

relationships; 2) clear and positive expectations by family

members, educators, and community members for

achievement; and 3) opportunities to take part, contribute

and give back (Benard, 2004).

If strengths are to be taken seriously, they must be

systematically recognized and named. Although we do

not have a DSM or ICD for strenghts, positive psychology

and research on resilience offer a guide for what to look

for when interviewing for strengths. These can be

summarized as:

1. The quality of relationships with peers and

family

2. The presence of cognitive or academic

competencies

3. The presence of aspirations, goals, and plans

4. The sense that despite adversity, there is a

purpose to life

5. A sense of agency or confidence in the ability to

affect life and meet one’s goals

Developing an Ear for Strengths

A prerequisite for assessing client strengths is to adopt

the assumption that every student, family, or community

has resources and capacities (Saleebey, 2008). We listen

for and pay attention to what we believe is important in

an assessment. If we assume that strengths are present,

even if they are not easy to identify because they are

obscured by problems, we become more curious about

what might be beyond the presenting difficulties and

investigate how client strengths contribute to their lives

and how they can be used to improve their

circumstances.

In addition to a strengths perspective, we must also have

tools that can be used to unpack and better understand

strengths once we have become curious about them.

Saleebey (2008) discusses eight kinds of questions that

help name and elaborate on strengths. These include : 1)

perspective questions, 2) change questions, 3) meaning

questions, 4) survival questions, 5) support questions, 6)

possibility questions, 7) exception questions, and 8)

esteem questions (p. 73).

Perspective questions

When counselors are curious about children’s

perspectives, they encourage autonomy and competence

by signaling that what they themselves think or feel about

their situations is important. This insider perspective is

also critical in interviewing because it adds information

about how different stakeholders (e.g., parents, teachers,

students) view a situation and what they view as

important. The insider perspective not only offers

ecological validity for information from other sources

such as school records, tests, or questionnaires, but it

also facilitates a collaborative working relationship.

Respect for the insider perspective offers a

counterbalance to the expert knowledge that counselors

bring to a situation.

Perspective question such as the ones below offer a

useful starting place for a discussion of strengths:

• “What are your thoughts about how you got to

this point?”

• “What have you been successful at so far?”

• “How did you make those successes happen?”

Change questions

Change questions are an extension of perspective

questions. As part of the strengths perspective, we also

assume that our clients, no matter how young or

disturbed, are always trying to cope with their challenges

even if they appear to have been unsuccessful so far.

Rooted in these efforts are clients’ theories of change

(Duncan & Miller, 2000). The assumption that clients have

been working on their problems in some way long before

we interview them leads us to be curious about what they

have done so far and, more importantly, what they have

done that worked, if only in small ways (De Jong & Kim

Interviewing for Strengths / Hass

Berg, 2013; Duncan & Miller, 2000). These questions

might include:

• “What have you done to try to make things

better? Have those things worked, even a little

bit?”

• “What do you think might make things better?”

• “Lots of time, kids have good ideas about how to

solve a problem. What do you think would

help?”

Meaning questions

Meaning questions are also an extension of perspective

questions. They try to get at what values, beliefs, or goals

clients find important. Some of these are of course

cultural and involve values or beliefs that the person

views as shared by members of a particular community.

These might include respect for elders, expectations for

gender roles, the role of education in success in life, etc.

Other beliefs arise from unique personal experiences that

lead to what cognitive behavioral therapists refer to as

core beliefs (Creed, Resiweber & Beck, 2011). Creed et al.

describe core beliefs as the foundation for how we view

ourselves, relate to others and experience the world

(2011). These values and beliefs can be both adaptive or

limiting, depending on the context. In an investigation of

strengths, the focus is on beliefs that are or could be a

source of resilience. Meaning questions include:

• “What are the most important things about

school for you?”

• “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

• “What do you think is most important in life?”

Survival questions

Survival questions are also known as coping questions (De

Jong & Kim Berg, 2013). They refocus attention away from

feeling overwhelmed in the face of seemingly

insurmountable challenges toward clients’ efforts at

coping with these adversities. Again, a strengths

perspective leads counselors to assume that clients are

always coping in one way or another, even it is just to be

passive or withdrawn in the face of adversity. Survival

questions are windows into potential strengths and

resilience. It is important to understand that although

these efforts at coping may not seem completely

successful, they may have been helpful in small ways that

can be built upon in developing plans and interventions.

When asking survival questions, it is important to first

acknowledge that things have been difficult, even

overwhelming. These acknowledgements serve to

normalize clients’ experiences and communicate that

their thoughts and feelings are unsurprising given the

circumstances they face.

The simplest way of starting a conversation about survival

or coping is to ask, “What has helped so far?” (De Jong &

Kim Berg, 2013). Other questions include:

• “That sounds really tough. How have you

managed to deal with all that?”

• “Wow, I am amazed you even got out of bed

today and made it to school. How did you

manage that?”

• “Given all that is going on, I am not surprised

you feel overwhelmed. I wonder if anything has

helped, even if only a little bit?”

Support questions

An important way in which clients cope is to access social

support. The importance of social support is one of the

most consistent findings in research on resilience (e.g.,

Masten, 2014; Benard, 2004; Werner & Smith, 2001).

Seeking social support begins early in development with

attachment to a parent or caregiver and expands as

children grow older to include adults and peers in

schools, neighborhoods, and community institutions

(Masten, 2014). Support questions include:

• “What are your friends like (ages, gender)? What

are some things you like to do together?”

• “Who are you closest to in your family? How are

you close?”

• “Who in your life helps you reach your goals or

explore your interests?”

• “Name some people that you respect or that

you see doing things you like or appreciate.

What kinds of things do they do?”

• Do you belong to any clubs, teams, community

organizations, or churches (synagogues,

temples, etc.)?

• “What family, friends, professionals, institutions,

organizations etc. have supported you? How?

Are they still around? Do they still help?”

Another aspect of social connectedness is the notion of

required helpfulness (Rachman, 1979). In many families,

children assume the responsibility for caring for younger

siblings, elderly grandparents, or ill parents (Werner &

Smith, 1992). These social responsibilities can of course

be stressful, but they can also build confidence and a

feeling of competence in children or adolescents.

Interview questions that focus on required helpfulness

include:

• “Who counts on you? What do you do for

them?”

• “Tell me about a time you did something nice for

someone else, or how you helped them out.”

“What types of things do you enjoy doing for

others?”

• “How do you help out around the house?”

Possibility questions

It is difficult to underestimate the power of dreams,

aspirations, and goals. As the astrophysicist and

philosopher Erich Jantsch put it, “Mental anticipation now

pulls the future into the present and reverses the

direction of causality” (1980, p. 14). All the children and

adolescents we work with are facing adversity of one kind

or another. It is important for practitioners to remember

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that the children and adolescents we work with can be

pulled into the future by a vision of themselves that goes

beyond their current difficulties. Possibility questions

clarify these dreams and aspirations, making them more

vivid and possible. Possibility questions include the

Miracle Question used by practitioners of Solution-Focused

Brief Therapy (De Jong & Kim Berg, 2013). Other

possibility questions include:

• “So, if we could figure out a way to solve this

problem, how would things be better?”

• “If things went well for you, where would you be

in a year?”

• “What do want to get out of school?”

• “What do you dream about doing with your life?”

Exception questions

Exceptions are experiences when a problem might have

happened but did not (De Shazer, 1988). Like survival

questions, exceptions are windows into potential

strengths. Counselors of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

(De Jong & Kim Berg, 2013) use the acronym EARS to

frame the process of interviewing for exceptions. E

stands for elicit. Eliciting exceptions starts with learning

to listen for and recognize exceptions. Exceptions can be

found in school documents or records (Murphy, 2015),

e.g., evidence of past good grades, or of doing better in

certain classes even when not doing well in others.

Eliciting exceptions can also be as straightforward as

simply asking, “Has there been a time recently when

things were better for you?” Other exceptions-eliciting

questions include:

• “When does it seem that Mrs. Jones is not on

your back as much?”

• “When is this less of a problem?”

• “So, what things about school do you want to

keep the way they are?”

The A in EARS stands for amplify (De Jong & Kim Berg,

2013). Amplifying exceptions involves gathering details

about how the exceptions happened and what role the

client played in making them happen. Murphy (2015)

points out that the details of exceptions should be

pursued with the same energy that practitioners often

use to gather details about clients’ problems.

The R in EARS stands for reinforce (Murphy, 2015).

Reinforcing exceptions can be simply celebrating

successes or what Kral and Kowalski (1989) call

cheerleading. Cheerleading is a form of social

reinforcement and can consist of simple statements such

as:

• “Way to go!”

• “That’s great!”

• “Wow! That’s fantastic!”

Another aspect of reinforcing exceptions that can be

combined with cheerleading is positive blaming (Kral &

Kowalski, 1989) or giving credit (Murphy, 2015). Clients do

not necessarily assume responsibility for what goes well

and will often assume that when an exception takes

place, it is a lucky accident and not the result of their own

actions. Positive blaming extends social reinforcement

and helps clients make connections between their

thoughts and behaviors, and exceptions. For example, if

a client shares an exception, follow-up questions might

be:

• “Great, how did you figure out such a good

idea?”

• “That’s great…so, what did you do to make it

easier for that to happen?”

• “That is great that you were able to do

that…what does it say about you that you were

able to come up with such a good idea?”

Esteem questions

Esteem questions are questions that investigate what

someone does well, appreciates about themselves or

feels competent doing. They can be as straightforward

as:

• “When classes do you like best?”

• “What do you like to do in your free time?”

• “When do you feel really good about yourself?”

• “What do you enjoy most?

Another type of question that can be helpful in exploring

what someone does well are relationship questions.

Relationship questions allow the interviewer to access

what clients think other people think about them. It also

allows them to name strengths or preferred activities

without the social pressure of directly owning that quality

or activity. Examples include:

• “What do people like about you?”

• “What would your friends say you were good

at?”

• “So, if your dad were here, what would he say

that you did well around the house?”

What Does a Conversation About Strengths Look Like?

Counselors’ work with children often starts with an

assessment of what works and does not work in the lives

of the clients we work with (Lopez, Snyder & Rasmussen,

2003). Traditionally, counselors have focused more on

what does not work than what works. If counselors are to

achieve a holistic understanding of the clients they work

with, it is important to develop a balance of

understanding both what troubles our clients and what,

despite these troubles, seems to be going well. This can

be more difficult than it appears conceptually because

counselors are often swimming upstream against their

training and the pervasive bias toward the negative (e.g.,

problems, psychopathology, etc.). Below, the

conversation between a counselor and Ian, a 16-year-old

junior in high school illustrates how the questions we

have discussed above may look like in an actual interview.

Ian’s teachers referred him because recently he is

finishing less of his work and he seems more withdrawn.

Interviewing for Strengths / Hass

Currently, he has a diagnosis of Attention Deficit

Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Counselor: “Hello Ian, I think I have seen you around

school. Do you remember me?”

Ian: “Yeah, you’re the counselor, right?”

Counselor: “Yeah, that was me. Your history teacher

said they are worried you’re doing less work and

seem more withdrawn.”

Ian: “I don’t know…I guess I’m not doing as much

work.”

Counselor: “Well, before we get into all that can I ask

you some other questions?”

Ian: “Sure, go ahead.”

Counselor: “Okay, to start, what classes do you like

best?” [esteem question]

Ian: “I guess math and history.”

Counselor: “Okay, what do you like about them?”

[asking for detail]

Ian: “I am pretty good at math and I like the story

part of history. You know…learning about how

people lived and what happens to them.”

Counselor: “Great, so, you do pretty well in those

classes, then?”

Ian: “Yeah, I am still doing okay in those classes.

Better than the others.”

Counselor: “How about when you aren’t in school.

What do you enjoy doing then?” [esteem question]

Ian: “I like to play the guitar and play video games,

but my mom won’t let me play them too much at

home”

Counselor: “So, what is the most important thing

about school for you?” [meaning question]

Ian: “I know I need to go to university to get a good

job. I don’t want to end up like my dad. He’s in jail,

you know.”

Counselor: “No, I didn’t know that. So, getting a

good job is important to you and you think that

going to university is the best way to do that. What

kind of a good job do you think you might want?”

Ian: “I don’t know for sure but maybe something in

tech; I like to fix things and figure out how stuff goes

together.”

Counselor: “That’s great…back to the thing with your

teachers, what do you think is going on?”

[perspective question]

Ian: “I don’t know…I just don’t feel it anymore. Like I

just want to space out and do nothing.”

Counselor: “Oh, okay. What do you think is going on

with feeling like you just want to space out?”

Ian: “Not sure…there is so much going on. My mom

keeps talking about how I need to get ready for

when I graduate but that scares me, a lot.”

Counselor: “I am not surprised you feel scared.

Given all that is going on…has anything you’ve done

helped, even if only a little bit?” [normalizing

statement and survival question]

Ian: “[frowns] …my history teacher is nice. She said

she had to leave her house because her dad was

really strange. I like listening to her talk about all

that.”

Counselor: “[smiles and nods] …sounds like she is a

good support for you. Who else is helpful?”

[support question]

Ian: “I like my older sister…she is pretty easy to talk

with.”

Counselor: “That’s good…I wonder what do you

think might make things better for you?” [change

question]

Ian: “Don’t know…get more work done.”

Counselor: “Okay, so if were able to do that, where

would you be in a year?” [Possibility question]

Ian: “I would be about to graduate…how

crazy…maybe I would have a university picked out.”

Counselor: “Great Ian…so, let me see if get this all

straight. You are pretty good at math and history.

You like to play the guitar and you are close to your

history teacher. Also, you want to go to university

and for sure don’t want to end up like your dad. I

just want to say that you have a lot going for you.

[summary of strengths and amplification] Going

back to the not being motivated and getting

enough, what was different when that was better?”

[elicit exception question]

Ian: “I guess I wasn’t thinking so much about what

happens after high school. It freaks me out.”

Counselor: “What do think would help not think

about it so much? I guess you could distract

yourself or sometimes I heard that when you make

a plan about something it leads you not to worry so

much.”

Ian: “A plan…just thinking about it makes me feel

weird.”

Counselor: “I wonder if you might start by talking to

your history teacher. She must have done

something when she left home.”

Ian: “Yeah, I am okay talking with her.”

Counselor: “That is great. Before we stop, I have

one more question. On a scale of one to ten, ten is

you are totally freaked out and one is you are

completely calm, where are you today?”

Ian: “I was an 8 when we started but maybe a 6

now.”

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Counselor: “Okay, that’s great. So, let’s see where

you are after talking to your history teacher. Let’s

talk in a few days, okay?”

Ian: “Sure.”

It is important to notice that the counselor spent little

time in this short session exploring Ian’s symptoms.

Given what Ian shared, it is significant to note that Ian’s

loss of motivation in the face of his future could be a sign

of depression. It would also be important to note that

Ian’s ADHD may make it more difficult for him to make a

systematic plan. These are important, but it is equally

important to know that Ian has aspirations, goals, and

positive connections with adults and family members.

Interviewing for strengths not only allowed the counselor

and Ian to arrive at a potentially helpful plan without a

great deal of focus on his problems, but also seemed to

reduce Ian’s anxiety during the session. The skills for not

knowing demonstrated in this dialogue also facilitated a

collaborative relationship, making it more likely that if the

time comes to discuss depression or ADHD, this

conversation will be easier and potentially more

productive.

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