Working Alliances Growing on Trees
Shadow Climbing in Grass Valley
Because outcomes are so influenced by the nature of the therapeutic relationship, counsellors and counselling related research pays close attention to the development of the working alliance. To that end, Gerald Corey (2009) defined “therapy at its best is an active collaborative process of working with the client as an active self-healer” (p 18). This week for GCAP 671 Course – Developing the Working Alliance we were asked to post a response to this question.
The working alliance can be said to exist in nearly every relationship, counselling or not. Are there any situations where you might not find a working alliance?
I enjoyed this question and appreciate the responses that preceded mine citing vast differences in value systems and beliefs. I chose not to go that path with this, below is my answer to my classmates. I look forward to seeing what kind of responses I get on the grad school forum.
(Please don’t read too much emotion into this post. I wanted to present my dissent as convincingly as possible but am not on a mission about this.)
If I can take a respectful oppositional stance, I disagree with the premise of this question. Isn’t the title of this course, “Developing a Working Alliance”? If working alliances were so commonly available why would we be spending an entire unit of this program (conceivably more) on how to create them? I would argue further that to state it this way cheapens the process of cultivating an effective working relationship and denigrates our professional skill-set.
A more accurate premise for me would be to say that “nearly every relationship has the potential to become a working alliance”. In absence of that addition, I would offer in response to this question that, semantics aside, any relationship that lacks Corey’s (2009) starting eight behaviors of the therapeutic relationship would not fall into the category of a working alliance.
- Active listening to and understanding clients
- Acknowledging their desire to change
- Suspending critical judgment
- Expressing appropriate warmth and acceptance
- Communication that you have an understanding of their world as they experience it
- Providing a combination of support and challenge
- Assisting clients in cultivating their inner resources for change
- Helping clients take the specific steps need to bring about change
I’ve heard things in North America have changed since Obama came on board in the US but I can’t believe they have changed to the point where nearly every relationship contains these qualities. Prove me wrong, please. ~ Adam
Corey, G. (2008). The art of integrative counselling (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks Cole.
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