•   From practice to theory and back again   •

The Guided Tour: A Structured Approach

During the first of our meetings, Barb and I worked through the change process identified by James Prochaska, Carlo DiClemente, and John Norcross (1994). They name pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, maintenance and relapse as being the six stages encountered when individuals undergo change. Using this process as a guide, we spent an afternoon working through the stages as they might apply to each of us personally.

Barb did not appear to engage with the theory emotionally or intellectually, despite the use of a concrete example1 to illustrate the process and put the theory into context. It seemed that I was the “teacher,” she the student there to listen to abstract theories relating to what other people did, not learning about a process which she might use, or had used, in her own change processes. I sensed in her an emotional response reminiscent of the childhood educational experiences of many adults in literacy programs—bewilderment and a doubting of personal abilities.

This level of detachment and the self-doubt it appeared to create in her was unexpected and unsettling. It prompted me to think about my introduction to the theory2 and to explore my expectations related to its use. Reflection raised a number of questions: On what level did I engage with the theory when I first learned of it? Did I apply the process to personal experience or imagined experiences of participants? Did I accept it as a tool that I could use in my own change processes or to aid participants in identifying and developing theirs? Was I expecting an intellectual recognition/rejection of the validity of the theory? Had I hoped for an emotional embracing of the theory and perhaps recognition of its potential for application in her life?

1 To explain the theory I used a process of change we had both experienced; both of us are former smokers. Together we identified steps to quitting that fit comfortably within the six stages.

2 I was introduced to the theory through a course titled Guiding and counselling the adult learner.