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From: Charlie Healey
Date: 22 Oct 2008
Time: 15:07:41 -0500
Remote Name: 129.93.99.57
The content of my principle regarding clients wanting therapy had to do with those who were no longer interested in treatment. I don't think it is possible to get a person to want therapy if they don't. Wanting to receive help and assistance has to come from the individual, not so much from us as clinicians. Some people who stutter might see therapy as a long, boring process that doesn't do much good. A good clinician can sometimes create interest or facilitate increased motivation for a client to work on his stuttering by showing that the clinician is interested in HIM more than the way he talks. A client has to feel they can trust a clinician and that person is going to be able to help them make changes. If not, the client will lose interest quickly. Therefore, I try my best to get to know the client and ask what they are good at. I focus on the positive things because too much of a client's speaking experiences are negative. I also try to keep the session emotionally light by de-emphasizing the stuttering and just listening to what they are saying. I also like to gear the therapy to what they think they need and get right to work on what they feel might be the best thing to do. In the back of mind I am thinking of how I can bring in other things that I think are important as we go in the direction the client wants to go. Or, I might try some real easy speaking strategies or talk about how they manage certain speaking situations. That will give me some insights on what to discuss in therapy to keep them interested. Lastly, I try to always check in with the client and ask how things are going and to give me feedback on how therapy is working for them. At some point, a clinician will be able to tell if a client has no interest in therapy or if he wants to keep going. There are limited things we can do to keep clients motivated so the motivation for change has to come from the client, not so much from us. We can only do what we can to keep the "fires burning" for a period of time but ultimately, it is up to the client to stoke his own fire for therapy.