Core skills 2 - Well Formed Outcomes.

Sometimes when we're feeling stressed, anxious or depressed we may need a really clear plan of action to help re-build our confidence and esteem. This is a technique that we can use to plan more clearly and define very exact goals and also to identify exactly what we need to achieve in order to feel we have made gains from our 'self help.' Both Rick and Glyn use this technique extensively in the therapy they provide.

A series of questions are asked and answered in order to clearly define your Well Formed Outcomes. You may want to form an outcome based around what you want out of a relationship or your occupation. Rick and Glyn get their clients to create a Well Formed Outcome for the effect they want to achieve from their therapy. The questions to ask are as follows:

1- What outcome do you want from this?

2- Where, when and with whom do you want to achieve your outcomes?

3- What will it look, sound and feel like when I’ve achieved my outcomes?

4- Are you in control of the changes necessary to help you achieve your outcomes?

5- Will I lose anything if I succeed in achieving my outcomes?

6- Is the outcome worth the effort?

7- What will all the positive consequences be of achieving my outcomes?

It goes without saying that this evidence based skill is only briefly covered here, but the basics are all there. Play with it. Plan something. Then run with it. Then do it again for something else. Share your Well Formed Outcomes with those around you and say how you came up with them. All you have to do now is make them happen as many others have.