Counseling for Clients with Addictive Behaviors: Creating a Dialoque with the Transtheoretical Model

Counseling for Clients with Addictive Behaviors: Creating a Dialogue with the Transtheoretical Model

The case in the learning resources is of a client named John who is in a position where he is dissatisfied in his career and copes with this stress by using recreational drugs i.e. cocaine and marijuana. John believes that his drug use helps him escape his pressures as well as energize him in other areas. If I were the counselor for John I would utilize the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to implement change and deal with issues of addiction. The TTM model is utilized to assist professionals in recognizing the sequential stages of addictive behavioral and goals a counselor should obtain in implementing changed behavior.

The first stage is the precontemplation stage. In this stage clients will experience four stages of change which are reluctance, rebellion, resign, and rationalization. My first goal in working with John would be to bring full awareness of his problematic behavior by explaining the impact of drugs and the unsuccessful stories of this method of coping with stressors. I believe it would be important for me to explain the importance of change, risk factors, and the effects that drugs can have on John’s life. The goal of the precontemplation stage would be for John to gain awareness of potential reasons for change as well as those factors that may positively or negatively impact his ability in order for him to even begin considering change (Capuzzi &Stauffer, 2006, pg. 449). In working with John I would hope to provide a sense of hope, provide strategies to move forward, and prepare him for possible setbacks that may arise.

The contemplation stage is the stage where clients weigh their options associated with change in behavior. I would work with John by weighing the pros and cons of continuing down the path he is on or the path with the new drug free behavior. It would be my goal in this stage to review the advantages and disadvantages with John’s...