The Sentence Stem Technique: An Innovative Interaction Between Counselor and Client

Abstract

This column is designed to underscore relationally based creative interventions used by counselors and psychotherapists in their practices. Our intention is to provide examples of novel, innovative ways of working with clients in their efforts to deepen self-awareness and their connections with others. Although the interventions within this column will be presented in a linear “how-to” manner, an essential premise of this column is that interventions submitted for publication have a contextual and relational basis. Basic to this column is the therapeutic focus of working through latent hurts and impediments to our clients' health and happiness. Client goals generally involve creating the requisite emotional space needed for genuine relational choice for connection to manifest. If you have created a useful therapy tool, or if you have adapted an existing creative tool that you would like to share with readers, please follow submission guidelines in the author information packet available at http://www.creativecounselor.org/Journal.html The Sentence Stem Technique (SST) was developed as a subjective tool to assess client attitudes on 30 items expected to elicit an emotional response. The SST is designed to assist the counselor in evaluating client attitudes and in clarifying attitudinal change between the first and subsequent administrations. Proper use and limitations of the SST are noted within the manuscript.