What are some strategies to boost your client's confidence in their ability to change?

1 Assess confidence

Before you can help your client increase their confidence, you need to have a clear idea of where they are at and what challenges they face. A simple and effective way to assess confidence is to use the readiness ruler, a scaling technique that asks the client to rate their confidence in making a specific change on a scale of 0 to 10. You can then follow up with open-ended questions that explore the reasons behind their rating, such as "What makes you a 6 and not a 4?" or "What would it take for you to move up to a 7?". This way, you can elicit the client's strengths, resources, barriers, and goals, and use them as a basis for further discussion.

2 Affirm confidence

Another strategy to boost your client's confidence is to affirm their positive statements, actions, and efforts related to change. Affirmations are genuine and specific expressions of appreciation, recognition, or encouragement that highlight the client's strengths, values, or achievements. Affirmations can help the client feel more competent, capable, and respected, and reinforce their sense of agency and autonomy. For example, you can say "I admire your courage to face this challenge" or "You have shown a lot of creativity in finding solutions" or "You have made some significant progress in the past month".

3 Explore confidence

A third strategy to boost your client's confidence is to explore their doubts, fears, or challenges in a supportive and empathic way. Exploring confidence means acknowledging and validating the client's concerns, and helping them identify and overcome the obstacles that may hinder their change process. Exploring confidence also means helping the client discover and mobilize their own resources, such as past successes, coping skills, social support, or personal values. For example, you can ask "What worries you about making this change?" or "How did you manage to overcome a similar situation in the past?" or "Who can support you in this journey?".

4 Enhance confidence

A fourth strategy to boost your client's confidence is to enhance their readiness and willingness to change by evoking their intrinsic motivation and reasons for change. Enhancing confidence means helping the client articulate and clarify their own goals, values, and benefits of change, and resolving any discrepancies or conflicts that may arise between their current behavior and their desired outcome. Enhancing confidence also means supporting the client in developing a realistic and feasible action plan that matches their level of confidence and readiness. For example, you can ask "What are the most important reasons for you to make this change?" or "How would your life be different if you made this change?" or "What are some small steps you can take to move closer to your goal?".

5 Reflect confidence

A fifth strategy to boost your client's confidence is to reflect their positive statements, beliefs, or feelings related to change using reflective listening skills. Reflecting confidence means mirroring and summarizing the client's expressions of confidence, hope, or optimism, and emphasizing their personal responsibility and choice for change. Reflecting confidence can help the client hear and reinforce their own voice of change, and increase their awareness and commitment to their goals. For example, you can say "It sounds like you are confident that you can make this change" or "You seem hopeful about the future" or "You are the one who decides what is best for you".