Throughout this lesson you have been introduced to key aspects, techniques and tools for the sixth session of STAIR on Changing Relationship Patterns. Key points to remember include:
- Providing a good rationale for role-playing exercises is important because many clients may initially feel uncomfortable or vulnerable when asked to act out interpersonal situations.
- Role-playing gives the therapist and client a shared sense of the situation much more effectively than just talking about the situation.
- Role-playing allows the client to try out new interpersonal strategies in a safe and supportive environment.
- Covert modeling differs from role-playing in that it involves the client imagining, describing and discussing the situation in detail with the therapist, rather than acting it out. Covert modeling can be used with situations that can't be acted out or when the client is too uncomfortable or anxious to try role-playing.
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Before you begin a role-play, you should know the following:
- The context for the interaction.
- Nature of the client’s relationship with the other person in the interaction.
- The client’s primary goal in the interaction.
- When identifying a situation for the role-play, choose one that had a moderate distress level for your client because these situations will be emotionally salient to the client without becoming overwhelming.
- When providing feedback or demonstrating potential alternate responses, communicate explicitly that there is no “right” or “wrong” way to express oneself. Put the emphasis on generating alternatives, as opposed to rejecting the client’s current approach.
- The Interpersonal Schemas Worksheet II allows the client to consider alternative ways of seeing social situations and responding to them.
