Structured Counseling Activities for Couples, Families, and Individuals: A step-by-step, practical guide to understanding and using fifteen structured ... for couples, families, and individuals

This manual draws together the best experiential counseling activities from Marriage & Family Therapy, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, and Gestalt (Emotionally Focused) Therapy. The 15 structured experiential techniques are presented in a guided, step-by-step fashion and are designed to be used with individuals, couples, or families. The activities developed for individuals focus on healing past wounds, breaking negative behavior patterns, resolving internal conflicts, and exploring future decisions. The activities developed for couples and families focus on identifying negative relationship dynamics, expressing needs and wants, shifting power dynamics, and increasing connection and appreciation. Some of the structured techniques include: Sentence Completion and Family/Relationship Scultping (marriage & family therapy); Role Reversal/Perspective Shifting and Personal Power Dynamics (cognitive-behavior therapy), Future Projection and Unfinished Business (gestalt/emotionally focused therapy); Conflict Integration and Chaining Resource States (NLP). All the structured activities engage clients in an active process that goes beyond simply talking and allows clients to experience emotional and cognitive shifts that have a lasting impact.