Couc 505 Power Point Notes
Week 8: Challenging Skills
When to Challenge:
Challenge when your client has a wrong view of themselves.
Challenge when they have mistaken ideas or beliefs.
Challenge when they misunderstand others' actions.
Challenge when they blame others instead of taking responsibility.
Challenge when there's inconsistency among their thoughts, feelings,
behaviors, and values.
Challenge when they're not working on their goals.
Giving Feedback Is a Form of Challenge:
Feedback helps show how the client's behavior affects you.
It evaluates the client's progress toward their goals.
It provides the client with information based on your observations.
Appropriate Feedback:
Use "I" messages.
Focus on behaviors, not personality traits.
Be specific, concrete, and nonjudgmental.
Ask permission before giving feedback.
Offer feedback tentatively and in small doses.
Emphasize client strengths, not just weaknesses.
Follow up with open questions to see if the feedback is accepted.
When Not to Give Feedback:
Don't give feedback when you're frustrated and retaliating.
Don't give feedback to force something to happen.
Avoid using feedback as a way to catch the client off guard.
Don't give feedback if the client doesn't want it.
Confrontation:
Confrontation highlights discrepancies in beliefs, behaviors, words, or
nonverbals.
It urges the client to resolve inconsistencies.
It creates emotional tension that motivates change.
Discrepancies can be between verbal and nonverbal cues, beliefs and
experiences, values and behavior, etc.
How to Confront Discrepancies:
Listen carefully to understand the whole story.
Present confrontations in a way the client is likely to accept.
Observe the client's response and adjust your confrontation if needed.
Follow up with rephrasing, clarification, and reflection of feelings.
Common Problems in Confrontation and Antidotes:
Address denial by discussing the client's reaction.
Focus on areas of agreement when the client accepts part of the
confrontation.
Encourage the client to reinforce resolution of discrepancies.
Final Cautions for Confrontation:
Only confront when a good relationship is established.
Avoid shaming or blaming.
Use confrontation only after issues have been raised several times.
Consider cultural implications and ethical issues.
Other Ways of Challenging:
Provide immediate feedback on the helper's reaction to the client.
Teach the client self-confrontation.
Challenge irrational beliefs using cognitive therapy techniques.
Use humor to help the client see conflicts in a funny way and bypass
defenses.
