Three-stage helping model

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Clara E. Hill · 1999

What it is

The three-stage helping model is a counselling-skills framework, not a manualised psychotherapy. It is an integrative way to choose and sequence basic helping skills, and it was written to train beginning helpers. Hill defines helping as one person helping another to explore feelings, gain insight…

Format

• Between-session events and outcomes are part of the model too.
• Skills: open questions and probes for action, giving information, giving feedback, process advisement, direct guidance (in the 6e: process advisement, suggestions, advice and homework), and disclosure of strategies. The 5e summary labels the first skill "probes for insight"; this is probably an…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Counselling vs psychotherapy boundary. The book is aimed at people training to become helping professionals: counsellors, psychologists, social workers and students in skills labs. It is not tied to a coaching body, so ICF, EMCC and AC boundary statements do not apply directly. The authors handle limits through ethics content. The 6e Chapter 5 covers "recognizing limits". Referral and transfer are covered in 5e…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• the client feeling mocked. Repair at once.
• lecturing, and the client becoming passive.
• the client feeling they must use your method.
• the session turning to you, and sparing use generally.
• rhetorical, leading questions that carry a hidden verdict.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.