Solutions IntensiveDay 3

Active Client Engagement

Create a Context of Collaboration

Point

• Start by offering options that are respectful of clients and their cultures and incorporate their preferences and perceptions

How

• Keys to Collaboration

Strengthen Through Presence

Point• Listen and Attend to Clients’

Stories and Strengths

How• Acknowledge and validate• Separate experience from action• Summarize, validate, and soften• Avoid platitudes or trying make

things more “positive”• Be aware of stories of

impossibility• Consider the influence of words• Use possibility-laced language• Be a “life witness”

The Influence of Words

The Influence of Words

Sad. Helpless. Inconvenience. Defeat. Tired. Oppressed. Doubtful. Uninterested.

Life is so hard. Nothing seems to go my way. There is no one to turn to. It feels like I’ve been forgotten. Times are hard. Nothing seems to

help. Things will not get better. In fact, they will probably get worse. There is no hope.

The Influence of Words

Exciting. Fun. Laughter. Joy. Anticipation. Possibility. Aliveness. Love. Peace.

When I think about the future I become energized. There is so much I can

accomplish. Life is wonderful. There are so many possibilities in the world.

Possibility-Laced Language1. Reflect client statements in the past tense.

► From: “It’s always that way.”► To: “It’s been that way.”

2. Move from global (“everybody,” nobody,” “always,” “never”) to partial (“recently,” “somewhat more,” “a lot”).

► From: “He’s always in trouble.”► To: “He gets in trouble a lot.”

3. Move from truth/reality to perception (“It seems to you,” “You’ve gotten the idea”).

► From: “Things will never get better.”► To: “From where your standing it really seems that it will

never get better.”

Possibility-Laced Language

1. Assume the possibility of future change and/or solutions by using words such as “yet” and “so far.”

► From: “It’s always going to be this way.”► To: “So far you haven’t found any evidence that things will be different

than the way they are now.”

2. Recast the problem statement into a statement about a preferred future or goal.

► From: “I’ll never be able to have the life I really want.”► To: “So you’d like to be able to move toward the life you really want.”

3. Presuppose that changes and progress toward goals will occur by using words such as “when” and “will.”

► From: “I just want my kids back home.”► To: “So when you when you are in a place where we agree that it is safe

for your kids to be back home with you what will be different?”