Motivational Work
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VALUES AND THEORY
Motivational work has its roots in humanistic psychology. This approach includes, for example, gestalt therapy, most forms of family therapy, Rogers’ client centered therapy, psychodrama, transactional analysis and therapeutic community. Humanistic psychology has a humanistic
approach as its core value. This foundation is shared by motivational work.
The humanistic approach
The humanistic approach means that we believe that in every human being there is an inner
core that is good. Destructiveness and evil do not exist in humans per se, but come from
the environment. The newborn infant has a positive inner core through and through; it has only
pure goodness.
In motivational work, the inner core consists of constructiveness; no person
deep down really wants do to harm to himself or others.
This means, among other things, that no one wants to destroy herself with drugs or harm
others. No biological parent, deep down, wants to hurt his children. This view of people can
neither be proven nor disproven – either one believes in it or not. No external confirmation is
required to be sure that the client has a positive core. No matter how unreasonable she seems
to be in her behaviour, we can still believe that she has a positive core behind all of this.
One conclusion from the humanistic approach is that there are no hopeless cases. Because
everyone has a positive core, there is a potential in all people which can be kindled and
encouraged to evolve. This basic belief leads to the motivational worker always having hope
for change in the client. He is thus able to keep up a positive commitment and not become burned out. Motivational work is never meaningless. There is always the possibility of change.
In addition, the motivational worker gives out positive expectations all the time. The client is
acknowledged and feels that there is hope for her.
The positive core is, quite simply, the fundamental motivation of every person: to live as
constructive and meaningful a life as possible. In the same way, the aim of motivational work is to reinforce the positive core of the unmotivated person.
Resistance is a contact rebus
In addition to the humanistic approach, the motivational the motivational worker also needs a
theory of the defence. The characteristic of an unmotivated client is that she puts up resistance to receiving help from others. In motivational work we do not see the primary function of
defence as protection, but rather as an indirect attempt at contact.
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It is a way of approaching others without being openly rejected and, at the same time, testing
how much you can trust others. In motivational work defence is called the contact rebus instead. It is an indirect attempt at contact in the form of a puzzle. Seeing opportunities in the client’s defence will further reinforce the motivational worker’s own motivation and help him to keep
committed to the client.
The motivational process Motivational work also includes a theory of how the client’s motivation changes over time
and with the bonding process to the motivational worker. This theory is the single single most
important support for the motivational worker in order not to lose commitment. The finding is based on my own experience of motivational work and my work as a supervisor for motivational workers. The motivation of a client changes like a wave, an increase in motivation is always
followed by a recoil, during which the client acts destructively. This destructive recoil is often the hardest part for a motivational worker to deal with.
After a client appears to have made ​​progress there follows a setback, which seems to indicate
that that there has been no positive change. The greatest risk here is that the motivational worker loses commitment to the client and gives up. However, if he can instead see that the
recoil is a positive confirmation of the earlier positive change in the client, this will increase the
chances that he can continue the motivational work. The destructive recoil is a necessary part
of the change process, which he can never avoid seeing in his work.
THE MOTIVATIONAL RELATIONSHIP
The motivational relationship with the client is the practical application of motivational work
values and theories. It
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is through this that the motivational worker conveys certain emotional attitudes to the client, who receives emotional power to his positive nucleus. This strengthens the client’s motivation. The humanistic approach, the theories of the contact rebus and the
destructive recoil all act to support the motivational worker in giving life energy. There are three emotions above all that the client’s positive core needs. These are commitment, hope and trust.
Commitment
Commitment is the most important part of the motivational relationship. It means that the motivational worker communicates the fact that he cares about the client and considers her
important. As well as this, the motivational worker expresses emotional reactions to the client,
such as anger, sadness, or anxiety, on the basis of her commitment. The unmotivated client is
often a suspicious person who finds it difficult to believe that someone cares about him.
Although the motivational worker shows emotional reactions, further confirmation is also needed for the client to start believing in her. This means that she must also communicate her commitment in actions in order to be credible. These actions may involve contacting the client, helping in
concrete terms to improving the client’s social situation, offer a meal, etc. The motivational worker
must show that he cares about the client both in feeling and in actions. To be credible in his
commitment to the client also means that he tries to limit the client’s destructive behaviour
through actions and words. Setting limits is an essential part of the motivational relationship
for this very reason.
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Box 4242, 203 13 Malmö. Tel/fax 040-30 37 72
www.revstedt.se
Hope
The second part of the motivational relationship, hope, is really the practical application of the
humanistic approach. As before, the aim is to convey a feeling to the client: that he is able to
change. The motivational worker cannot guarantee that things will be better, but he can convey the idea that it is possible.
Trust
Trust means that the motivational worker conveys the feeling that the client has her own capacity that she can use. The motivational worker communicates this at a general level,
and in the context of a specific task that the client must perform. In the latter case he must
first determine that the client really has the ability to carry out the task, otherwise the trust
will not be genuine.
Honesty
An indispensible condition for conveying the three emotions of commitment, hope and trust is
that they are genuine. You cannot fake them. This means that the motivational relationship
places high emotional demands on the motivational worker. He must be strong enough to
be emotionally involved in the client without apparently receiving anything positive in return. However, through the humanistic approach, the theories of the contact rebus and the destructive recoil, the motivational worker is able to see these positive affirmations.
The motivational relationship and the client
To be motivated the client needs to gain the three feelings of commitment, hope and trust from
outside himself. He has a lack of commitment to himself, feels hopeless and lacking in confidence
in his abilities. This emotional force must be mediated by someone else. In this way, the
motivational relationship is one-sided, which is demanding on the motivational worker.
METHOD AND TECHNIQUE
The motivational relationship is at the centre of all motivational work. Communicating commitment,
hope and trust is sufficient for a client to become motivated. The motivational worker can
also use certain methods and techniques. The key condition, however, is that there is also a
motivational relationship. Without it there is no point in using any technique. There are several advantages of methods and techniques. They can speed up the motivational process, so that
the client becomes motivated earlier. The motivational worker also finds his motivational work more structured, which can be a support for him. If, for example, he has a particular interview
technique, it helps him to structure the conversation.
Confrontation and Continuity
The two main methods of motivational work are confrontation and continuity. Confrontation is
an interview technique where the client is put under emotional “pressure”. Continuity means
that the motivational worker is responsible for contact with the client in two ways. He has
sole responsibility for the continuation of meetings with the client. Since the client is unmotivated,
he will find it difficult to maintain contact himself. The motivational worker is also responsible for
his own motivational relationship to the client – that he maintains his commitment and thus also ensures continuity of emotional contact. Continuity includes different methods and techniques that can be used to achieve a continuous relationship.
©Copyright 2015 Legitimerade psykoterapeuterna Revstedt & Hartman AB
Box 4242, 203 13 Malmö. Tel/fax 040-30 37 72
www.revstedt.se