OSKAR

Domain VI · Brief, integrative, trauma, hypnosis & coaching · Mark McKergow, Paul Z Jackson · 2000 · United Kingdom

What it is

OSKAR is a coaching model, not a psychotherapy. It stands for Outcome, Scaling, Know-how & Resources, Affirm & Action, Review. McKergow and Jackson developed it around 2000 for a "Coaching for Results" programme at Walkers Snackfoods (UK). It is now used by independent coaches and by managers who…

Format

• Format and dose. The model has five elements. It can run as a full coaching session or be used one element at a time in short conversations ("corridor coaching"); not every element is needed every time. None of the sources gives a session count, session length or programme length for OSKAR. In…
• What it is. OSKAR is a coaching model, not a psychotherapy. It stands for Outcome, Scaling, Know-how & Resources, Affirm & Action, Review. McKergow and Jackson developed it around 2000 for a "Coaching for Results" programme at Walkers Snackfoods (UK). It is now used by independent coaches and by…

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Ending. The sources give no explicit ending rule for OSKAR. Suggested: close when the coachee rates themselves at their "good enough" point and is confident of keeping it going. The EMCC/AC Code requires that the length of the engagement fit the agreed goals, and that the engagement end if the client would be better served by another kind of help.
• For a psychotherapist. Using OSKAR as a coach is a different role from treatment. The ICF, EMCC and AC all state that coaching is not counselling, psychotherapy or medical treatment. If you also coach, keep a separate coaching contract (see 4.1 and 5.9). If you use OSKAR's questions inside therapy, you are doing SF-informed therapy under your clinical duties, not coaching.

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 fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• 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

• Switching too early, which can feel dismissive (see 5.5).
• Overusing "what else?" can feel mechanical. Stop when the answers thin out.
• Disclosures of distress, risk or impairment. Take these seriously; don't reframe them into a goal.
• The coachee deferring to you, or every step becoming your idea. Go back to their own resources. Responsibility stays with the coachee.
• A coachee who wants help mainly with distress, symptoms or the past rather than a forward goal. That points to 4.15 rather than starting OSKAR.

Problems the guide addresses

• Coachee wants nothing from coaching, or was sent
• Stuck: the scale doesn't move, nothing is better
• "I don't know"
• Non-adherence: the step wasn't done
• Coachee feels unheard or rushed (rupture)
• Strong emotion or overwhelm in session
• "Yes, but…": every option is rejected
• Manager-as-coach and organisational-goal tensions
• Signs a coachee needs referral to clinical care
• Modality-specific pitfalls

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.