Working with Resistant Clients

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Price

CA$150.00

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As therapists, we are often faced with clients who are resistant to change. Signs of a resistant client include failing to do homework between sessions, an unwillingness to apply helpful tools to their daily lives, and telling you that the tools and guidance you offer them never works. It can be a challenge to work with clients like these. You might begin to blame yourself as a therapist for the lack of progress. Or, like many, you may become frustrated with the client and blame them for their lack of progress. Of course, these issues can have adverse effects on the client, they can impact progress, and impede change.
Given how common resistance is in a clinical setting, this brief course will provide therapists with the opportunity to understand resistance, how to conceptualize it, and how to use it in a therapeutically beneficial way.

DBN Elite is approved by the Canadian Psychological Association to offer continuing education for psychologists. DBN Elite maintains responsibility for the program.

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Course Clientele

Psychotherapists who feel stuck with resistant clients and are unsure how to proceed are encouraged to take this course. CBT and Solution Focused Therapy will be presented as modalities that can assist clients in overcoming resistance.

By the end of this course, students will achieve the following outcomes: 

1- Define resistance; 

2- Identify possible benefits of resistance in therapy; 

3- Conceptualize resistance therapeutically; 

4- Effectively apply CBT and Solution Focused Therapy to resistant clients.

The course is 2 hours and will be available online on the DBN Elite website. The course must be completed within 6 months of purchasing it.

The course is pass/fail, no numeric grade will be provided. A passing grade is 75%.

  • Final Exam (100%): The course evaluation will be a cumulative exam that consists of 30 multiple-choice questions and true or false designed to assess your knowledge of clinical writing.

    The final exam will be available to you once you have completed the lecture.

Characteristics of Resistance

  • Defining resistance
  • Signs of a resistant client
  • Positive and negative elements of resistance

Conceptualizing Client Resistance to Confront Resistance

  • Fear’s role in maintaining resistance
  • Therapist qualities that may elicit resistance
  • “Running before walking”: How expectations influence resistance
  • Transtheoretical stages of change: Where does the client fall in terms of readiness to change?
  • Setting goals

Tools and Therapeutic Modalities

  • S. M. A. R. T. goals
  • Dealing with conflicting goals
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
  • Solution Focused Therapy