ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters, I’ve discussed techniques that counselors use to make their practice more ecological. These techniques depend on the counselor’s sincere belief that the client is an equal partner in the clinical work. It’s not good enough to invite the client into a process of negotiation when we secretly believe we know best what the solution to the client’s problem is. When I train therapists, I’ll sometimes hear the comment, “The counselor is just manipulating the client.” It can certainly look like that from the outside. But negotiating with a client to help him navigate effectively, changing a contract so it makes sense to the client, relying on the client’s natural supports as substitutes for counseling after the clinical work ends, none of these strategies are tricks to speed the client toward compliance with what the counselor wants. The cynics among us may think that, but my experience is that intervening with young people in ways that accept the complexity of their social ecologies requires humility. A right attitude is the beginning to a successful intervention.
