Ever been to the doctor, surgery, or hospital where the staff comes in and asks, “How are ‘we’ this morning?”
Ever had your practitioner/therapist etc. say something like,
“Well, ‘we’ need to work on…”?
As a practitioner have you ever made such a comment to your client like,
“Let’s see what ‘we’ can do about this..”?
Yes, practitioner and client are forming a partnership. Yes, you will process issues and information together. But when it comes to the implementation part, the solution part, the resolution part, the taking action part is it “we” that will do it? No. The person who will actually carry out the implementation part is the person sitting across from you.
So is there a “we”? Absolutely.
Practitioners are definitely actively involved in:
- listening,
- tuning in carefully,
- utilizing all information they have about the client,
- clarifying the issue to address – getting to the “specific” so important to EFT,
- using EFT to focus on the aspects of that “specific”,
- assessing all the aspects cleared,
- then helping them to see how this new learning, this new way of looking at the issue will carry forward in their life.
The work of “carrying forward” all belongs to the client.
The challenge with saying “we” is that sometimes the client can infer that “you” are going to be actively involved in the actual solution. “We” could be taken to mean that they don’t have to do much; just sit back and let you handle it – that they do not have to take full responsibility for making changes in their life. “We” can foster dependency on you. “We” can be a disempowering word that slows their progress.
The above “we” is adapted from Effective Techniques for Dealing with Highly Resistant Clients – a terrific book. It is also very, very useful for the not so resistant clients. It is full of extremely helpful, practical ideas. I attended a lecture by Clifton Mitchel and was very impressed. His lecture and in his book he expressed not only my own philosophy about dealing with clients but gave practical solutions. My first thought was, “Gee, I could have written that!” Followed quickly by, “But, gosh, I wouldn’t have put it together as well as he did.” I highly recommend this book to any serious practitioner no matter what modality you use. Effective Techniques for Dealing with Highly Resistant Clients
