Thought for the Week

Timothy D. Stein, MFT, CSAT

February 3, 2014

The number one predictor of success in therapy is “Do clients believe that you would take your own advice?”

Telling people what they should do is easy; following that same advice is often difficult.  Like children, other people do not do what you tell them to do; they do what they see you do.  When you are guiding others as a therapist, a sponsor, or a member of their support community, the advice they will most easily follow is the advice they believe you would take yourself.

Does my advice match my actions?  What guidance do my actions give?  What would change if I took my own advice?