Chapter Five: How to Amplify What Clients Want: The Miracle Question
1. Research has shown that interviewer’s who assumed clients’ __________, even with clients who experienced chronic mental illness, and affirmed their ______ _________ saw amazing results in their clients.
2. It seems most useful to have client’s ___________ change by looking at what will be different and then move onto how they might make that happen.
3. Client motivation often ____________ dramatically when the conversation between client and interviewer turns to what the client would like different.
4. Initial efforts to describe what they want different may be _________ and vague; the next task for the interviewer is to transform this initial statement into a _________, vivid vision of what life would be like when the problem is solved; a process called developing well-formed goals.
Characteristics of well-formed goals
5. Importance to the Client:
a. When practitioners work to understand what the client wants for their life and help them develop goals that are important to them, clients feel __________, are more likely to grow in ____________ and have more motivation to work on changing their lives.
6. Interactional Terms:
a. The way people perceive themselves is greatly influenced by their understanding of how ___________ others in their world view them.
b. Helping clients shift to what others might perceive as different if things change may help clients be able to __________ more possibilities for change.
7. Situational Features:
a. Helping a client narrow down what seem to be overwhelming problems to more specific examples of areas in which they want to change will developing goals seem more ____________.
8. The presence of some __________ behaviors rather than the absence of problems:
a. Negative statements from clients are rarely useful in solution building (think of trying to imagine the chair not being there). Rather, the presence of something __________ (the comfortable chair) rather than the absence of something ____________, leads to well-formed goals.
b. A straightforward way to get this information is to ask the client what will be there ___________ if the problem is resolved.
A Beginning step rather than the final result
9. Solutions are generally final results that are reached after clients have taken some beginning and then intermediate steps to do things ___________ in their lives; what we can offer to clients is assistance in finding new ways to begin building more successful ____________. Do not make promises that you cannot keep!
Client’s recognition of a role for themselves.
10. Clients often want other people to be different; it is useful to go with this perception and ask for more description of what these significant others in the client’s life will be doing ______________ and this can begin the shift to the client focusing on themselves; this generally leads to client feeling more hopeful.
Concrete, Behavioral, Measurable Terms
11. Concrete, behavioral and ____________ goals make it easy to assess progress towards goals; this can be accomplished by following up vague goals with ___________ that help refine the goals.
Realistic Terms
12. Realistic goals are achievable in light of the client’s situation and ______________.
13. Asking clients about the____________ consequences of change may also help them develop realistic goals and goals that focus more on themselves.
A Challenge to the client
14. Clients often feel ____________ when they are asking for help, and they may feel disappointed or ___________ that they need the help.
15. By suggesting that the client’s problems will take _________ work to resolve, you may strengthen the client’s sense of dignity and self-respect through:
a. Reassuring the client that it makes ________ sense to ask for assistance and that this is a difficult problem and the client is ________of asking for assistance with it.
b. When the client makes little ________, if the problem is perceived as difficult they will not necessarily feel like a _________ if it does not get resolved.
c. If the client makes ______ progress, they will feel very good about themselves.
Conclusions
16. In solution focused interviewing, the interviewer refrains from making _________ to clients about what they need or for what they should strive.
17. Goal formulation develops within the client’s _____________________________.
The Miracle Question
18. Asking about a miracle encourages clients to think about an __________range of possibilities.
19. The question focuses on the ____________.
20. Guidelines for asking the miracle question include:
a. Speak __________ and gently, using a ________ voice
b. Mark the beginning of the solution building stage by introducing the miracle questions as unusual or __________
c. Use frequent ______________
d. Use _____________ directed words.
e. Gently _______________ clients when they return to problem talk; focus on what will be ______________ in their lives when the miracle happens.
21. When clients refuse to work with the miracle question, you can use the phrase, “when the problem is solved or less ____________”
22. When working with groups with a variety of different focuses (such as a family), you can frequently refocus to the development of _____________________.
The art of interviewing for well-formed goals:
23. Following up with frequent follow-up _______________ about what would be different is an important part of developing well-formed goals.
Avoiding Premature Closure
24. It is sometimes difficult for us to let clients explore for themselves the possibilities that exist for them; we want to push towards _____________ and offer suggestions from our point of view. However, clients benefit more from our belief that they are ______________ and respecting their self determination.
True/False Questions:
True or False
1. It is usually more useful to clients to work with them at defining what will be different when their problems are solved before working on how they might make that happen.
2. Relationship questions are used to help clients expand their goal definitions
3. Solution building cannot be used with clients who are isolated or live alone because the worker cannot meaningfully ask relationship questions which focus on the client’s interactional context.
4. Well-formed goals involve the client specifying the absence of something undesirable rather than the presence of something desirable.
5. It is best for the interviewer to ask clients to describe their goals as an end state or final result of their efforts, rather than as a beginning step.
6. Goals should be described by clients in concrete, measurable terms instead of in vague and general terms.
7. Well-formed goals are those which first of all are defined within the client’s frame of reference--not the practitioner’s.
8. A client first used the word "miracle" in a goal-formulation conversation with Insoo Kim Berg and gave the practitioners at BFTC the idea of asking the miracle question.
9. The miracle question is best asked slowly, dramatically, and with many follow-up questions which include the phrase: "What will be different ....?"
10. Ah Yan indicated that leaving her husband was a part of her "miracle picture."
11. Ah Yan often first responded to Peter’s goal-formulation questions by saying, “I don’t know.”
12. In meeting with several members of a family, the practitioner invites the family members to work toward a joint definition of goals and a joint solution.
13. In the Williams family case, Albert (Gladys' brother) came up with the most family-focused and helpful answers to the "miracle question."
14. For young children, the word miracle may be too abstract to be useful; it is better to substitute words such as magic wand, gold dust, and magic.
15. According to De Jong and Berg, it is a good idea to try to reach closure on clients’ definition of a miracle picture (i.e. settle on the possibilities for solution) by the end of the first session so that they have a base for a solution from which to proceed.
Multiple Choice
1. First and foremost, well-formed goals are:
a. important to the client.
b. defined in interactional terms.
c. defined with situational features.
d. defined as a beginning step rather than an end result.
2. Which of the following better fits the characteristics of well-formed goals?
a. “Having a happy marriage”
b. “Asking ones spouse to go out for dinner next Tuesday evening”
c. “Not getting irritated with ones spouse when she is late in coming home from her job”
d. “Losing 70 pounds”
3. The “miracle question” is used mainly to:
a. develop well-formed goals.
b. uncover exceptions.
c. help the client to cope with overwhelming circumstances.
d. measure client progress.
4. The miracle question is useful because:
a. it gives clients permission to think about the widest range of possibilities.
b. it focuses the client on the future, not the past.
c. it takes the client's focus away from current problems.
d. All of the above