In this blog, I will continue my account of the new approach how to motivating a client. This time it is about the role of the motivational worker. The guiding principles are: Motivational Work demands intensity and action. Once again, the ideology of the traditional model of motivation has a different view.
The Traditional Model
As said before, all existing methods of motivational models are built on the psychotherapeutic paradigm. Accordingly, the role of the personnel is inspired by the psychotherapist. A prerequisite for psychotherapy is that the client is motivated.
At the same time, the purpose of the psychotherapist consists of conveying unconditional positive regard and empathy genuinely. The client’s engine is already running. In concrete terms, he comes to sessions, brings up his problems, and is self-reflective.
The Model of Motivational Work
On the other hand, the significance of being an unmotivated client is that you will never by yourself begin to help yourself. In concrete terms, he does not come to sessions, never brings up his problems, and he is shut off from himself.
Important to realize, his inability to cooperate means that the client is dependent on somebody else to be motivated. The first consequence of this existential situation is the difference in responsibility between traditional methods of motivation and Motivational Work.
The Motivational Worker’s Responsibility
Thus, in Motivational Work, the motivational worker is responsible for the client’s motivation. Because the client cannot lift himself, it is entirely up to the motivational worker to find ways of strengthening his client’s motivation. The intention is not to burden him with guilt feelings or despair if he fails in his effort. However, Motivational Work demands intensity and action.
Instead, the existential circumstances are meant to be a support for the motivational worker. Since he is not dependent on the client’s cooperation, he has all the possibilities himself to find ways to succeed. Thus, he never finds himself in a dead-end street. There are always new alternatives to try out. It gives hope to the motivational worker in this way having the chief responsibility.
The Psychotherapist’s Responsibility
On the other hand, the psychotherapist is dependent on his client’s collaboration to be able to support him. As the client is motivated, the responsibility for success is divided between the two.
The Client’s Responsibility
Eventually, the final responsibility has the client. For example, if he does not come to sessions, the psychotherapist has limited ways of responding. One restriction is that he is confined to his consulting room. In case the client never returns, the psychotherapist can establish that the client is not sufficiently motivated.
Common Responsibility
Concerning responsibility, there is one aspect that is common to the two paradigms. Neither the motivational worker nor the psychotherapist is accountable for the client’s actions. On the other hand, they are both responsible for the execution of their methods.
The motivational worker is intensive and active
To point out, there is not only a dissimilarity concerning responsibility but also in how you meet the client. As already said, in the traditional motivation paradigm, the personnel are following the client on his trail. The engine is going forward by itself. You accompany the client. In contrast, motivational work demands intensity and action.
According to motivational work, nothing will happen unless the motivational worker does something. The client has shut off his real feelings and thoughts. Similarly, he has put a lid on his pain. Furthermore, he has a very negative experience of connecting with others. In other words, he is very distrustful.
Strong Positive Confirmation
Consequently, the unmotivated client needs strong positive confirmations to be more trustful. And, he longs for definite positive proof to strengthen his self-confidence and self-esteem. All of this leads up to an intensive and active approach from the motivational worker.
That is to say, he is committed to the client and shows it via an intensive display of his emotions, particularly his caring. To be trustworthy, he needs to display his concern also in action, to seek out the client, to give him shelter, to offer medical help, etc. If required, he tries to get behind the contact rebus and meet the client’s inner feelings.
Action and Responsibility
Also, the motivational worker’s intensive and active approach is combined with his responsibility. You have the freedom to try out different ways to reach the client, which is a proactive stance. Having accountability for motivation work can motivate you to make a more considerable effort.
However, you must remember you are not responsible for the client’s success, but for your method. You can only do your best, and that is good enough. Here is a case to illustrate the intensive and active approach.
A Case: Warm-up
25-year old Anneli is a drug abuser. Some days after being forced into rehabilitation, her mother dies. The funeral takes place a week later. Two members of staff, Kristoffer and Nanna, accompany Anneli to the funeral to watch over her and provide support. During the funeral, Nanna, the female carer, notices how bad her client is feeling and is concerned for her.
A Case: Intensity and Action
After the ceremony, Anneli tries to escape by running for a coach. Feeling that she can’t leave her client to her own devices, Nanna rushes after Anneli but is too late. Shouting and waving, she tries in vain to get the bus to stop.
Refusing to give up, Nanna continues to run after the coach, which is moving slowly in the heavy traffic. She catches up with the bus and manages to make eye contact with Anneli, but then has to give up when the bus increases its speed.
A Case: Result
Anneli goes to her flat, intending to kill herself. However, she changes her mind and rings the institution, asking them to come and fetch her. After a while, two members of staff turn up in a car and drive her back to rehab.
Reflections on the case
Intuitively, Nanna feels that it is vital to prevent Anneli from absconding. Through her emotional commitment and actions, she demonstrates that her client has value as a person. The positive affirmation of Nanna’s activities provide Anneli with life force It strengthens the bond between her and Nanna and the rest of the staff.
In this way, Anneli is supplied with a counterweight to her destructiveness. The injection of life energy is present when she is sitting alone in her flat, and it prevents her from committing suicide. Evidence of Anneli having bonded further with the institution is that she calls them on her initiative to ask to be taken back into enforced care.
Final Words
As seen in the case, the client needs potent positive confirmations through emotional intensity and action to be more motivated. Words are the least essential. Therefore, the unmotivated client will experience a conversation inspired by psychotherapeutic techniques as being abandoned.
Confrontation
However, in Motivational Work, there is another way to use work with unmotivated clients. This technique is called confrontation. It is a conversation comparable to speaking with someone you hang out of the window. A description of the confrontation will come in a later blog.
Epilog
To sum up, Motivational Work demands intensity and action. The client is drowning and needs first to be rescued out of the stormy water.