Strategic Responses: Emphasizing Personal Choice and Control


Emphasize that it is up to the supervisee to make a change. Acknowledging that a supervisee is responsible for making decisions, makes it more possible for them to choose to change.

  • Supervisee: I really don’t want to.
  • Staff: And it is certainly your choice. No one can make you do it.
  • Supervisee: I feel like I am being forced to go to treatment.
  • Staff: Ultimately, you decide whether you go to treatment or not.
Other strategic response for handling resistance are amplified reflection, double-sided reflection, shifting focus, reframe, agreement with a twist, and coming alongside.