Research indicates that assessing and, where possible, accommodating clients’ preferences in therapy can be highly beneficial to outcomes. It is also something that, ethically and clinically, most counsellors and psychotherapists would want to do. But how can we go about understanding what clients’ preferences are? And what should we do to accommodate them?

Working with clients’ preferences is by no means straightforward, and literature and training in the area is sparse. What happens, for instance, if a client does not seem to have any preferences? Or if what they want is not what the therapist thinks is best for them? And what should a therapist do if what a client wants is not something that a therapist feels able, or willing, to offer?

This workshop, based on the recently published Personalizing Psychotherapy: Assessing and Accommodating Patient Preferences (Norcross & Cooper, 2021, APA), addresses these questions and many more. It will introduce participants to the latest theory and evidence on working with client preferences; and give practical guidance on how to assess client preferences, including through use of the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences. The workshop will also give practical guidance on how to integrate clients’ preferences into practice, either through adoption, adaptation, proposing an alternative, or referral to another. Case studies and personal reflexive exercises will be used throughout the workshop to deepen learning.

 

Learning outcomes

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

  • Ask clients questions that can elicit preferences

  • Respond to clients’ preferences in a range of ways

  • Apply the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences in their work, and for self-reflection

  • Comprehend the evidence for assessing and accommodating client preferences

  • Comprehend, and be able to integrate into practice, the theory behind preference work

 

Schedule

  • Session 1: Evidence and theory for preference work

  • Session 2: Assessing and eliciting clients’ preferences

  • Session 3: Using the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences

  • Session 4: Accommodating clients’ preferences into counselling and psychotherapy

 

Format

This workshop is typically delivered as a one day event. It can be delivered online.

The workshop combines self-development exercises, theoretical input, practical exercises, case studies, and small and large group discussion.

The workshop is appropriate for training and practising counsellors, psychotherapists, counselling psychologists and other mental health professionals.

This workshop deepens and extends material that is introduced in Mick’s workshop on pluralistic therapy.

 

Resources

Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP): A tool for therapy that aims to help clients articulate their therapeutic preference. With instructions. [Translations of the form: Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French (Belgian), French (Canadian), Finnish, German, Italian, Romanian, Serbian, Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Argentinian), Turkish, Ukrainian]. For more information about the C-NIP and an online version, click here.

Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences - Therapist Version (C-NIP-T): A tool to help therapists reflect on their preferences for practice.

Supervision Personalisation Form: A measure, in development, to help tailor supervision to the individual supervisee

Books

key Research publications

Řiháček, T., Cooper, M., Cígler, H., She, Z., Di Malta, G., & Norcross, J. C. (2023). The Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences: Measurement invariance across & international datasets and languages. Psychotherapy Research, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2023.2255371

Cooper, M., van Rijn, B., Chryssafidou, E., & Stiles, W. B. (2021). Activity preferences in psychotherapy: what do patients want and how does this relate to outcomes and alliance? Counselling Psychology Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2021.1877620

Cooper, M., Norcross, J. C., Raymond-Barker, B., & Hogan, T. P. (2019). Psychotherapy preferences of laypersons and mental health professionals: Whose therapy is it? Psychotherapy, 56, 205-216. https://doi.org/10.1037/pst0000226

Swift, J. K., Callahan, J. L., Cooper, M., & Parkin, S. R. (2019). The impact of accommodation client preferences in psychotherapy: A meta-analysis. Journal of Clinical Psychology. doi: 10.1002/jclp.20759

Cooper, M., & Norcross, J. C. (2016). A Brief, Multidimensional Measure of Clients' Therapy Preferences: The Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP). International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 16(1), 87-98. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2015.08.003

 

Videos (Skills)

A range of different strategies for eliciting and discussing client preferences

Two demonstrations of using the C-NIP in practice

videos (discussion)

CPCAB Interview with John Norcross and myself on assessing and accommodating client preferences