Client-Informed Therapy

Recent discussion in the field (Anderson & Goolishian, 1990; Atkinson & Heath, 1990; de Shazer & Berg, 1992; Goolishian & Anderson, 1992; Real 1990) has focused on a proposed move toward a more collaborative model of family therapy, one in which the therapist's voice is not privileged over that of the client. This new focus has caused a shift from therapists as “technical experts who do things to people” to a view of therapists as nonexperts “who create the conversations with people” (Goolishian & Anderson, 1991). What this looks like in practice is not entirely clear. Perhaps one stumbling block has been the very form of the debate that has considered only the voices of therapists. A debate between therapists about constructing realities with clients in which clients' voices are seldom heard may involve an inherent contradiction. This preliminary study is offered as an initial step toward including client perspectives on treatment.