Homework

There is no particular reason the processing should stop when the session ends. For that matter, that certainly isn't what we want. It is better to set a direction so that a positive development continues out in life.

You can speed up the integration of results into the client's life by giving her homework assignments. That is, you give her something to do or something to go and notice in between sessions. This accentuates that what we are doing has something to do with life, and it brings processing resources to work right where they are most needed.

A homework assignment will generally be a simple, positive thing. A simple task that is easy to remember and that doesn't require much thinking.

It can be a simple reframe like "Notice the positive intention in anybody you talk with this week".

It can be a bringing in of positive resources, like "Before you go into a meeting, visualize yourself as that big, confident and bright person and notice how good you feel".

It might be an information gathering task, like, "Notice in which situations you start feeling smaller and blaming yourself. Notice the circumstances and what happens just before". We can use that in a subsequent session, of course, if it doesn't resolve by itself.

It can be a direction towards increased perception, like, "This week notice how everything around you has a rhythm to it. Learn to recognize the different rhythms".

Some people will naturally desire homework and will not feel right if they walk out of a session without something to do by themselves. Other people might at first feel that it is a childish and unnecessary thing. Be sure that you are in rapport with the client and that you follow a system that works for that particular person.

One way or another, we do aim for getting the client to be more resourceful in life, to be more perceptive, to notice more things, to realize things and learn from them, to have fun, and to be more able in general. If she is happy and insightful while she is in our session, that is great. But if that is the only time she is happy and insightful, then we have more work to do.

A process facilitator is basically working on putting herself out of work. The aim is to get people to take care of those things in life that she is helping people do in session. Her intention will always be to get new resources out into people's lives.

Well done processing will in itself tend to spill over into the rest of the person's life. But also there are various ways of more directly interacting with the person's life. Homework is one of them.

A variant of this is to work as a consultant for the person. Take part in planning, organizing and laying out some parts of the person's life. Not as an Authority, but as a helper who happens to know some good tools.

That is still processing. It is just a slightly different focus than our typical techniques where we work more suspended in a neutral space, independent from everything else. If we are going for more of an In-Life handling, the facilitator will get her hands a bit more dirty and will give more direct suggestions on what to do, and will demand more factual information.


Exercise

- Think of some types of homework you could give to a client



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