The Transtheoretical – or “stages ofchange” – Model developed by researchers James Prochaska, John Norcross, andCarlo DiClemente at the Cancer Research Center in Providence, Rhode Island — reveals a powerful insight into a core dilemma in
the fields of counseling and psychotherapy. The studies of behavior change that
led to this approach found that 80% of people who show up for treatment are
pre-contemplative – which means they have
consequences and problems related to a behavior pattern they are not thinking about nor open to changing - but that nearly 100% of treatment approaches are geared to people who are in the contemplative or action stage. This means that as a whole our training and our thinking as mental health and addiction professionals prepares us to meet the needs of 20% of the people who present themselves for help. Also this leads clinicians to label clients “resistant” and “help-rejecting” when the reality is that our methods simply were not matched to their needs and …
consequences and problems related to a behavior pattern they are not thinking about nor open to changing - but that nearly 100% of treatment approaches are geared to people who are in the contemplative or action stage. This means that as a whole our training and our thinking as mental health and addiction professionals prepares us to meet the needs of 20% of the people who present themselves for help. Also this leads clinicians to label clients “resistant” and “help-rejecting” when the reality is that our methods simply were not matched to their needs and …