Therapeutic Document in Group Counseling: An Active Change Agent

✍ Scribed by Mei-Whei Chen; Julie Pohn Noosbond; Mary Alice Bruce

• Publisher: American Counseling Association
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 324 KB
• Volume: 76
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1556-6678
• DOI: 10.1002/j.1556-6676.1998.tb02699.x

✦ Synopsis

In this article, the authors provide a therapeutic document model using language as an active change agent. The practice of the therapeutic letter has demonstrated substantial power in narrative therapy to foster client change. No literature, however, has applied this construct in group counseling. Grounded in social constructionism, re-authoring therapy and the power of written language, this model transforms the usually time-consuming and frequently nontherapeutic client documentation into a functional intervention. As a competency-based intervention, this model provides counselors with principles and procedures to enhance clients' self-agency and expedite the change process in group counseling.