STAGES OF CHANGE MODEL

 You may need to help your client explore the benefits of making a change and find ways around the potential barriers they may face. To help clients explore the importance of a specific behaviour change and increase their confidence to achieve their goal it helps to:

• start where your client is

• try to see the situation from their point of view

• if they want to change, encourage a realistic first step

• build of their existing strengths and positive past experiences

• use small measurements to assess and track their progress

• people are more likely to change when they for example, when they can see the benefit of changing

• if a person is not ready for a change for example, you should respect their decision

• if a person is unsure about making a change, you could ask them for example: what are the pros and cons of making the change?

• it helps to summarise and consolidate what you have discussed, so you could ask for example: who are you going to ask to support you?

• relapse prevention: You need to explore the potential of relapse and how they could prevent this from happening. You could ask for example: what makes this a good time to change?