SPACE model

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Nick Edgerton, Stephen Palmer · 2005 · United Kingdom

What it is

SPACE is a cognitive behavioural assessment and case-conceptualisation model, not a full therapy and not a stage model of change. Its authors present it for three settings: cognitive behavioural coaching, therapy and stress management. The 2005 abstract gives it three jobs: assessing the client,…

Format

• Version followed: the SPACE model of Nick Edgerton with Stephen Palmer (Edgerton & Palmer, 2005, The Coaching Psychologist 1(2), 25–31; reprinted as chapter 1 of J. Passmore & D. Tee (Eds.), Coaching Practiced, Wiley, 2022, pp. 9–18), as Edgerton teaches it in his SPACE workshop at the UK Centre…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Session count and format. SPACE itself has no fixed number of sessions. Syrek-Kosowska says the SFERA steps can be done within a single session or spread over the whole coaching process, usually starting in the first session. SPACE can be the backbone of a whole coaching engagement or a module inside another model. Spaten, Imer & Palmer (2012, 2014) place it in the problem-identification step of the PRACTICE /…
• The EMCC Global Code of Ethics, which the Association for Coaching also publishes, says coaching "is not counselling, psychotherapy or medical intervention". It requires members to work within their competence and to refer clients onward where appropriate. It also requires members to encourage a client to end the work when a different form of professional help would serve them better.
• As a licensed psychotherapist you can use SPACE in either contract. Decide which one you are in, write it into the agreement, and do not slide from coaching into treatment without re-contracting.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• 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?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• 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

• change in one area only. Return to the area that has not changed.
• the map taking over the whole session. Set a time limit for the analysis.
• distress or impairment that does not fit the contract. If you see it, go to 5.8.
• participants disclosing serious distress. Offer a private follow-up and a referral route (5.8).
• plans that are vague or set by the coach. The client should be able to state the plan in their own words.

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.