Prioritizing the central role of clients: identifying and working with clients’ capacities and contributions in psychotherapy

Abstract

Clients in psychotherapy bring extensive knowledge about their lives, formidable healing capacities, and the energy needed to affect change. In this paper, we discuss how clients work and contribute to therapeutic effectiveness. We delineate 11 capacities that clients bring into session which can be activated and enhanced to support their becoming self-directive and agentic outside therapy. We describe how clients actively participate and collaborate in their therapy, contribute to the therapy relationship, and influence the course of therapy. We then offer practical strategies to help therapists identify, support, and integrate clients’ capacities into therapy’s processes and outcomes.