Atlas›Domain II · Behavioural & cognitive›Guide 186
Guide II-186

Hope therapy

C. R. Snyder, Lopez, Floyd, Ulven2000
A 21 · L 67 · M 1227 interventions in the Trinity explorer
Client cardCompare
[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: Snyder's hope theory as used in individual hope therapy by Lopez, Floyd, Ulven & Snyder (2000), "Hope therapy: Helping clients build a house of hope", with its two stages and four processes (hope finding, bonding, enhancing, reminding). Group, single-session and school formats are added where they differ: Cheavens et al. (2006), Feldman & Dreher (2012) and Marques et al. (2011). The Lopez chapter itself is not drawn on here. Its content here comes from a slide deck presented by Lopez and from secondary summaries that cite page numbers [uncertain].

Hope therapy is a brief, semi-structured, strengths-focused therapy built on C. R. Snyder's hope theory (University of Kansas). In that theory, hope is goal-directed thinking with two parts: pathways thinking (seeing yourself as able to find workable routes to goals) and agency thinking (seeing yourself as able to start and keep using those routes, even when obstacles appear) [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012; Lopez slides]. Lopez et al. describe hope therapy as a blend of solution-focused, narrative and cognitive-behavioural interventions (Lopez et al., 2000, p. 123, as quoted in positivepsychology.com) [source: positivepsychology.com].

How change happens: in this model, distress and negative emotion follow from goals that are blocked or poorly defined, and from low pathways or agency thinking. Barriers that are not handled produce negative emotion [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. Change comes from three things: (a) clear, meaningful goals; (b) a range of routes, with obstacles planned for; (c) motivation kept up through self-talk, recall of past successes and hopeful relationships. The therapy instils hope (finding it in the client's story and in the alliance), then increases it (by teaching goal, pathway and agency skills) and keeps it going (through between-session reminders) [source: positivepsychology.com summarising Lopez et al. 2000; Lopez slides].

This is a therapy model plus a family of programmes (group, school, health settings), not one fixed manual. No formal training or certification route was found [uncertain].

2. Framework

Stages and processes (Lopez et al., 2000) [source: positivepsychology.com summary of Lopez et al. 2000; Lopez slides]

StageProcessGoal
1. Instilling hopeHope findingAssess hope and draw hopeful themes out of the client's story. The therapist reflects back hopeful attitudes, themes and perspectives.
1. Instilling hopeHope bondingBuild a hopeful working alliance. Alliance goals become goal thoughts, tasks become pathways, and bonds become agency.
2. Increasing hopeHope enhancingGenerate goal thoughts, create pathways, keep agency up and overcome barriers. Uses structured goal finding, pathway and agency checklists, visualisation, hopeful stories and silver linings.
2. Increasing hopeHope remindingBuild daily routines of hopeful thinking through brief mini-interventions between sessions and after therapy ends.

Typical formats and session counts (choose one; name it to the client):

  • Individual hope therapy (Lopez et al., 2000): brief and semi-structured. The chapter's recommended session count was not found [uncertain]. One published individual case ran 17 weekly one-hour sessions for mild depression and hopelessness, combined with activity scheduling, problem solving and cognitive restructuring [source: positivepsychology.com citing Kirmani & Sharma 2015].
  • Group hope therapy (Cheavens et al., 2006): 8 weekly two-hour group sessions led by trained leaders, for community adults dissatisfied with where they were in life. It taught goal identification, pathways and self-motivation [source: Kohane document summarising Cheavens 2006]. The session-by-session content of that protocol is not drawn on here [uncertain].
  • Single session (Feldman & Dreher, 2012): one 90-minute goal-pursuit intervention for college students, with a one-month follow-up on a goal the student chose [source: IFP abstract]. The components below are from secondary recall, not the paper [uncertain].
  • Brief health-setting format: four one-hour sessions on workable goals, pathways and positive self-talk with rehabilitating cancer patients (Chan et al., 2019) [source: positivepsychology.com].
  • Herth Hope Intervention Program (Herth, 2001): a related programme based on a different hope model, delivered in small groups by trained mental health or nurse practitioners for illness and loss. It adds stories of courage, building group community, encouraging outside support and finding meaning [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • School programme (Marques et al., 2011, "Building hope for the future"): 5 weekly sessions with middle-school students, plus work with their guardians and teachers [source: Repositório UP abstract]. Session content [uncertain].
  • Across the 27 studies in the meta-analysis, 7 were single-session and 20 multi-session; 17 were group and 10 individual [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].

A practical individual course (synthesis of the above; adjust the count) [synthesis]

  1. Sessions 1–2: hope finding (story, hope profile or scale) and hope bonding (agree goals and tasks); psychoeducation on goals, pathways and agency.
  2. Sessions 3–6: hope enhancing. Run a life-domain review, then choose 2–3 goals, break them into steps, map multiple pathways, plan for barriers and build agency.
  3. Sessions 6–8 and later: hope reminding. Set up mini-interventions, review progress, practise regoaling, and plan relapse prevention and booster contacts.

Criteria for moving on (not specified in the sources; [synthesis]):

  • Instilling to increasing: the client has told a story in which at least one hopeful theme or past coping success has been named and accepted. Therapist and client agree on what they are working toward and how. The client can say in their own words what goals, pathways and agency mean.
  • Within enhancing: move from goals to pathways once there are 1–3 goals that are clear, specific and owned by the client. Move from pathways to agency once each goal has a first step and at least one alternative route.
  • Enhancing to reminding and ending: the client is producing their own pathways and self-talk when blocked, can name a replacement goal if one becomes blocked, and has a daily or weekly reminding routine. Scores on a hope scale, if used, can support the decision.

3. Guiding principles

[source: Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com summary of Lopez et al. 2000; Weis & Speridakos 2012; one-line meanings are [synthesis] unless cited]

  • The client is the expert on their own situation; together you build a framework for change. In practice, ask before you suggest, and build plans from the client's own words and examples.
  • Therapeutic relationships are hopeful relationships. Treat the alliance itself as an intervention: agreed goals act as goal thoughts, agreed tasks as pathways, and the bond as agency.
  • Focus on what goes right. Look for past successes and coping, and spend more time on them than on cataloguing failures [source: Kohane summary of Cheavens].
  • Hope can be found in stories and in everyday language. Listen for goal, route and "I can" talk in what the client says, and reflect it back.
  • Hope is a trait, it varies by life domain, and it is also a state. Assess it by domain (school or work, family, relationships, leisure). Low hope in one area can sit alongside high hope in another that you can draw on.
  • Hopeful goals are clear, specific and additive (Lopez slides). Make each goal concrete enough that progress can be seen.
  • Use stretch goals and compare clients with themselves, not with others. Set goals slightly beyond current performance, and judge progress against the client's own baseline.
  • Obstacle thinking should be grounded in reality and perception (Lopez slides). Name barriers honestly. Hope therapy does not mean ignoring constraints.
  • A blocked route is a wrong pathway, not a personal flaw. When a plan fails, move the client away from self-blame ("I lack talent") and toward generating a new route.
  • Barriers produce negative emotions, and those emotions carry information [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. Treat frustration or sadness as a signal that a route is blocked, which tells you where to work.
  • Agency needs looking after. Discourage constant "How am I doing?" checking. Encourage positive self-talk, humour, enjoying the process, noticing small things, and basic health (sleep, exercise, relaxation, less caffeine, smoking and alcohol).
  • Keep more than one goal. Several goals across domains protect against hopelessness when one is blocked, and a replacement goal is a legitimate move.
  • Hope is social and can spread vicariously. Use hopeful peers, mentors and models, and two-way relationships in which the client both gives and receives advice.
  • Hope needs maintaining. Build routines between sessions and after therapy ends (hope reminding).
  • Integrate rather than replace. Hope work is often combined with CBT methods (thought records, activity scheduling, problem solving) where the problem calls for them [source: positivepsychology.com].
  • Hope work aims both to reduce distress and to build positive thinking [source: positivepsychology.com]. Track strengths and goal progress as well as symptoms.

4. Intervention inventory

Order follows the Lopez et al. (2000) processes. Interventions come from Lopez et al. (2000), via the summary and slides; from the Snyder-based components listed by Weis & Speridakos (2012); and from the programmes named in section 2. All example language is illustrative unless quoted. Worksheet and scale items are not reproduced.

Stage 1: Instilling hope

4.1 Hope finding through the client's story

  • Purpose / when: Use at the start of therapy to assess hope and gather material for later work. Telling the story can show how the client's hopes developed, faded or stalled (Lopez et al., 2000, p. 128, as summarised) [source: positivepsychology.com].
  • Steps:
    1. Invite an open account of the problem and of the client's life so far.
    2. Listen for goal statements, routes tried and "I can" or "I kept going" moments.
    3. Reflect these back as hopeful attitudes, themes and perspectives.
    4. Note which life domains look high-hope and which look low-hope.
    5. Summarise the story in hope language: what was wanted, how it was pursued, what kept the client going, and where it stalled.
  • Example language (illustrative): "As you tell this, I notice that when the job fell through you started ringing people the same week. What got you moving then?"
  • Watch for: reflecting hope too early, so the client feels unheard; listen to the pain first. It is working when the client starts naming their own strengths or past routes without prompting.

4.2 Narrative exploration of goal history in one life domain

  • Purpose / when: Use early, to see how the client has pursued goals in the past. This is the "narrative" technique in a modified version of Lopez et al. (2000) [source: positivepsychology.com]. The modification is that summary author's, so which details are Lopez's own is [uncertain].
  • Steps:
    1. Start with a brief relaxation exercise.
    2. Ask the client to go back to their earliest memories in one life domain (for example school, work or friendships).
    3. For a goal from that time, ask how they arrived at it and what motivated them.
    4. Ask whether the goal was realistic, what their mood was while pursuing it, and how they got past barriers.
    5. Ask whether they reached it and how they feel about the outcome.
    6. Draw out the patterns: which pathways and agency habits worked, and where hope broke down.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Think back to the first thing at school you really wanted to get good at. How did you decide on it, and what did you do when it got hard?"
  • Watch for: memories that turn into rumination about failure; steer back to how barriers were handled. It is working when the client can name a repeatable strategy from the past.

4.3 Hope profiling and hope measurement

  • Purpose / when: Use at intake and at review points to measure trait, domain-specific or state hope, separating agency from pathways [source: Lopez slides]. Lopez's slides use hope profiling to bring hopeful memories into focus.
  • Steps:
    1. Give a validated hope measure that fits the client's age. Snyder's adult trait Hope Scale scores agency and pathways items separately (the slides describe an 8-item scale). There are also state and children's versions. Do not reproduce or improvise items.
    2. Score agency and pathways separately and compare them.
    3. Share the profile with the client: "lots of routes, low energy" versus "high drive, few routes".
    4. Use the weaker component to choose which interventions to emphasise.
    5. Repeat at review.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your answers suggest you're good at finding ways round things, but your belief that you'll keep going is lower right now. So we'll put more time into the 'fuel' side."
  • Watch for: clients treating the score as a fixed verdict. Present hope as changeable, domain-specific and partly a state [source: Lopez slides].

4.4 Hope bonding: a hopeful working alliance

  • Purpose / when: Use from session one onward. The alliance is used as an example of hope: agreed goals stand for goal thoughts, agreed tasks for pathways and the bond for agency [source: positivepsychology.com summary of Lopez et al. 2000; Lopez slides].
  • Steps:
    1. Agree explicit therapy goals in the client's words.
    2. Agree the tasks: what you will each do in and between sessions.
    3. Make clear that you believe the client can reach the goals, and point to evidence for that belief.
    4. Check the alliance regularly, especially agreement on goals and tasks.
    5. In groups, use hopeful bonding to help the group reach its working stage [source: Lopez slides].
  • Example language (illustrative): "So our shared goal is for you to be back in some kind of study by spring, and our route is to plan one step a week here. Does that feel like ours, not just mine?"
  • Watch for: the therapist carrying all the hope. It is working when the client brings their own agenda items and progress reports.

4.5 Psychoeducation on hope theory

  • Purpose / when: Use early in individual and group formats, so the client has a shared vocabulary. Explain goals, pathways thinking, agency thinking, and how barriers produce negative emotions [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps:
    1. Explain the three parts using one of the client's own examples.
    2. Explain that blocked goals lead to negative feelings, which signal that a new route or a new goal is needed.
    3. Link the client's current difficulty to the part that is weakest.
    4. Check understanding by asking the client to explain it back.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Hope here isn't wishful thinking. It's three things: something you want, ways to get there, and the drive to use them. When one is missing, you feel stuck."
  • Watch for: lecturing; keep it short and use the client's own material.

Stage 2: Increasing hope (hope enhancing)

4.6 Structured goal discovery: life-domain review

  • Purpose / when: Use when goals are vague, absent or imposed by others. Clients look at how satisfied they are in each life domain in order to choose meaningful goals [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. The steps follow the goal checklist on the Lopez slides.
  • Steps:
    1. Rate satisfaction in each domain (for example work or school, family, relationships, leisure, health).
    2. Brainstorm several possible goals across domains before choosing any.
    3. For each goal, check that the client really wants it rather than feeling they ought to.
    4. Rank the goals from most to least important.
    5. Choose 2–3 to work on.
    6. Become aware of how the client usually makes goal decisions.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Before we pick anything, let's list every possible goal, even small or silly ones, across the areas we rated. Then we'll rank them."
  • Watch for: goals that belong to someone else ("my mum wants me to"). Agency stays low for goals the client does not own.

4.7 Setting clear, workable goals

  • Purpose / when: Use straight after goal discovery. Goals should be clear, specific and additive, be stretch goals, and have recognisable markers [source: Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com].
  • Steps:
    1. Rewrite each goal so that someone else could tell when it had been reached.
    2. Set it slightly beyond the client's current level (a stretch), judged against the client's own baseline.
    3. Define markers of progress.
    4. Set aside protected time for the goal, and arrange things so that outside demands interrupt it less.
    5. Frame the goal as a challenge rather than a threat.
  • Example language (illustrative): "'Be less lonely' is hard to steer by. What would you be doing on a Thursday evening if this goal were working?"
  • Watch for: goals that are too large (agency collapses) or too small (no engagement). Framing goals as approach rather than avoidance ("start X" rather than "stop Y") is a common recommendation in Snyder-school work, but it was not confirmed [uncertain].

4.8 Stepping: breaking goals into subgoals

  • Purpose / when: Use for any long-range or overwhelming goal. Goals are broken into manageable parts [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012; Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com].
  • Steps:
    1. Write the end goal at the top of the page.
    2. Work backward to list the subgoals.
    3. Sequence them.
    4. Focus first on the first subgoal only.
    5. Make the first step small enough to do this week.
    6. Review and re-step each session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "If the finish line is a new job, what's the step just before that? And before that? Keep going until we reach something you could do by Tuesday."
  • Watch for: steps that stay abstract. It is working when steps get done and the client starts stepping new goals without help.

4.9 Generating multiple pathways

  • Purpose / when: Use when the client sees only one route, or has a low pathways score. Practise producing several routes and then choosing the best one [source: Lopez slides; Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps:
    1. For the current subgoal, brainstorm at least three routes without judging them.
    2. Rate each route for feasibility and fit.
    3. Choose a main route and keep one or two backups.
    4. Note which skills or resources each route needs. If a new skill is needed, make getting it a subgoal.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Give me three completely different ways to get there, including one you think is a bit ridiculous."
  • Watch for: "yes, but" to every route; see section 5.

4.10 Pathway checklist

  • Purpose / when: Use as a handout or review tool for pathway habits [source: positivepsychology.com summary of Lopez et al. 2000; Lopez slides]. Paraphrase it; do not copy a published sheet.
  • Steps: go through each habit with the client and note the one to work on this week:
    • break goals into steps;
    • focus on the first subgoal;
    • mentally rehearse reaching the next subgoal;
    • use imagery to plan for challenges;
    • learn new skills when they are needed;
    • build two-way supportive relationships;
    • ask for help;
    • treat a failed route as a wrong pathway, not a flaw in yourself.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Which of these do you already do without thinking, and which would make the biggest difference if you started?"
  • Watch for: ticking boxes without changing behaviour. Link each habit to a specific step.

4.11 Mental rehearsal ("internal movie") and guided imagery

  • Purpose / when: Use once a goal is clear. The client mentally rehearses reaching it and handling impediments [source: Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com]. Guided imagery is also listed among hope interventions (Berg et al., 2008; McDowell, 2009) [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps:
    1. After a short settling exercise, ask the client to picture each step toward the goal in as much vivid detail as they can: place, actions, people.
    2. Ask them to picture a likely obstacle and watch themselves getting past it.
    3. Ask them to notice which skills and resources they used.
    4. Afterwards, the client writes down the steps, obstacles and resources.
    5. Turn what they wrote into the week's plan.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Run it like a film. You walk into the meeting... and the first question throws you. What does the you in the film do next?"
  • Watch for: imagery that ends at the moment of success with no steps in it; bring it back to the process. Visualisation works best when the goal is clear and defined [source: positivepsychology.com]. Take care with clients who have trauma-related imagery; see section 5.

4.12 Barrier anticipation and contingency planning

  • Purpose / when: Use with every plan, and especially for clients who give up at the first obstacle. Anticipate obstacles and plan alternative routes in advance [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012; Lopez slides].
  • Steps:
    1. For each step, ask what is most likely to get in the way, inside the client (mood, fatigue) and outside (time, people, money).
    2. Make sure obstacle predictions are realistic.
    3. Write an "if this barrier, then this route" plan for each one.
    4. Rehearse the plan in imagery or role-play.
    5. Next session, review which barriers actually came up.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's assume Wednesday goes badly. What's the most likely reason, and what's your plan B for that exact situation?"
  • Watch for: plans that list only internal barriers, or only external ones. It is working when the client meets a barrier and reports using the backup route instead of quitting.

4.13 Agency checklist and positive self-talk

  • Purpose / when: Use when agency is low, with clients who know what to do but cannot keep going. Positive self-talk is a core component of the brief formats [source: Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com; Kohane summary of Cheavens 2006].
  • Steps:
    1. Go through the agency habits with the client. Remind yourself the goal is yours. Use encouraging self-talk. Expect roadblocks and do not panic at them. Recall past successes. Use humour and laugh at yourself. Enjoy the process. Do not ask yourself "how am I doing?" all the time. Do not expect immediate change. Find another goal if this one is truly out of reach. Look after sleep, exercise and relaxation, and cut down on caffeine, cigarettes and alcohol.
    2. Help the client write 2–3 short self-statements in their own words, tied to evidence from their past.
    3. Agree when to use them, for example before the hardest step.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What would you say to a friend standing where you are? Let's write that down in words you'd actually use about yourself."
  • Watch for: slogans the client does not believe. Self-talk works better when it is anchored in evidence (see 4.14) than when it is generic.

4.14 Recalling past successes and rewriting low-hope narratives

  • Purpose / when: Use to build agency, especially when the client is stuck. Clients recall and write stories of past coping, identify the low-hope elements, and replace them with hopeful thoughts [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012; Lopez slides].
  • Steps:
    1. Ask for a specific time the client got through a hard situation or reached a difficult goal.
    2. Have them write it as a story, either in session or as homework.
    3. Together, mark the parts of the story that are low-hope: self-blame, "it was luck", "nothing works".
    4. Rewrite those parts with hopeful but accurate thoughts that credit the client's routes and effort.
    5. Keep the rewritten story as the client's favourite hope narrative, for use in hope reminding (4.20).
  • Example language (illustrative): "You wrote 'I just got lucky'. Looking at what you actually did that month, what would a fair version of that sentence be?"
  • Watch for: rewriting that tips into denial. Keep it factual. It is working when the client starts using the rewritten version spontaneously.

4.15 Hopeful stories, models, mentors and heroes

  • Purpose / when: Use to build agency vicariously. Hope can spread vicariously, and reflecting on mentors and heroes can boost agency [source: Lopez slides]. Younger clients may hear stories of people who model hope [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. Looking for hopeful stories is part of hope enhancing [source: positivepsychology.com].
  • Steps:
    1. Ask the client to name a person, real or fictional, who kept going through obstacles.
    2. Explore what goals, routes and self-talk that person used.
    3. Ask which of those the client could borrow this week.
    4. With children, read or tell an age-appropriate story, then discuss the character's goal, the routes they took, the obstacles and how they kept going.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What did your grandmother do when the plan fell apart? Which part of that is already in you?"
  • Watch for: comparing unfavourably with the hero ("I'm nothing like her"). Keep the focus on specific behaviours that can be borrowed.

4.16 Searching for silver linings

  • Purpose / when: Use after setbacks, or for chronic situations. It is listed both as a hope-enhancing technique and as a hope-reminding one [source: positivepsychology.com summary of Lopez et al. 2000].
  • Steps:
    1. After the client has described the setback and you have acknowledged it, ask what, if anything, it opened up, taught or made clearer.
    2. Connect anything they find to a goal or a pathway.
    3. Do not insist if nothing emerges.
  • Example language (illustrative): "That was a real loss, and I don't want to rush past it. When you're ready: has it shown you anything about what matters, or a route you hadn't seen?"
  • Watch for: the client feeling invalidated. Use it only after the setback has been fully acknowledged [synthesis].

4.17 Regoaling: substitute goals

  • Purpose / when: Use when a goal is truly blocked (illness, loss, external constraints). Finding a substitute goal is part of the agency checklist [source: Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com]. Finding meaning in illness or loss is a component of Herth's programme [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps:
    1. Confirm that the goal is truly blocked, not just hard: have routes been tried, and is help available?
    2. Name and acknowledge the loss.
    3. Identify the value or need the original goal served.
    4. Brainstorm other goals that serve the same value.
    5. Choose one and step it (4.8).
  • Example language (illustrative): "Playing at that level isn't open to you now. What did football give you? Let's see where else that could come from."
  • Watch for: regoaling too early, which can let the client avoid a goal that is still achievable. Watch also for grief that needs space first.

4.18 Learning skills and seeking help (social pathways)

  • Purpose / when: Use when routes depend on missing skills or support. The pathway checklist includes recognising when a new skill is needed and getting it, building two-way friendships, and asking for help [source: Lopez slides]. Herth's programme encourages outside support [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps:
    1. For each blocked step, ask: is this a skill gap, a resource gap or a support gap?
    2. For a skill gap, set acquiring the skill as a subgoal.
    3. For a support gap, list possible helpers, plan the specific request, and rehearse asking.
    4. Look at reciprocity: where does the client give advice or help?
  • Example language (illustrative): "Who do you know who has done this before? What exactly would you ask them, and when?"
  • Watch for: reluctance to ask for help; role-play the request.

4.19 "Hope talk" (Teach, Apply, Lure, Kindle)

  • Purpose / when: Used to share hope in conversation. Lopez's slides list hope talk under hope enhancing, with the steps Teach, Apply, Lure, Kindle [source: Lopez slides]. The slides give only the step names. The content of each step below is my interpretation [uncertain] [synthesis].
  • Steps (interpreted):
    1. Teach: name the hope concept briefly.
    2. Apply: link it to one of the client's current goals.
    3. Lure: invite the client to try one small hopeful step or thought.
    4. Kindle: reinforce any sign of agency.
  • Example language (illustrative): "That's a pathways thought, by the way: you just found a second route. Want to test it before Friday?"
  • Watch for: sounding scripted. Keep it brief and woven into ordinary conversation.

Hope reminding

4.20 Hope-reminding mini-interventions

  • Purpose / when: Use from the middle of therapy onward, and after it ends. They set up a feedback loop and daily routines of hopeful thinking. Brief mini-interventions can be done anywhere [source: positivepsychology.com summary of Lopez et al. 2000; Lopez slides].
  • Steps: choose 1–3 that fit the client:
    1. Review a favourite hope narrative. Reread the story from 4.14 when discouraged.
    2. Thought records for goals and barriers. A brief CBT-style record that notes the goal, the barrier thought, evidence for and against it, and an alternative pathways or agency thought. Use it to refine goals and challenge barrier thoughts.
    3. Personal hope statement. A short sentence in the client's own words naming their goal, their route and their reason to keep going, reviewed daily.
    4. Silver-lining search after setbacks (4.16).
    5. Time with hopeful people, and "hopeful reconnections" with people who have supported the client's hope. The slides call reconnections the best form of reminding.
    • Agree when and where each will happen, and review it at the start of every session.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Let's pick one thing that takes under five minutes a day and keeps this in view when we're not meeting. Which one fits your morning?"
  • Watch for: routines that are dropped after a week; shrink them and attach them to an existing habit [synthesis]. It is working when the client reports catching low-hope thoughts and redirecting them on their own.

4.21 Expressive writing and hope journaling

  • Purpose / when: Use between sessions with clients who like to write. Expressive writing and journaling (Vlach, 2006) and hopeful narratives (Trump, 1997) appear among the hope interventions reviewed [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. The detailed protocols are not drawn on here [uncertain].
  • Steps (adapted) [synthesis]:
    1. Set a short, regular writing slot.
    2. Write about a current goal, what was tried, the obstacles met, the next route, and one moment of agency.
    3. Bring the entries to session to pick out patterns.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Each evening, three lines: what I moved toward, what got in the way, what I'll try tomorrow."
  • Watch for: writing that becomes a rumination diary; keep the prompts goal-directed.

Formats and programme components

4.22 Group hope therapy

  • Purpose / when: Use with community or clinic adults, delivered by trained leaders. Cheavens et al. (2006) ran 8 weekly two-hour sessions teaching goal identification, pathways and self-motivation [source: Kohane summary]. Group formats were the most common in the meta-analysis [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps (structure synthesised from the components above; the published session order is [uncertain]):
    1. Early sessions: introductions, psychoeducation (4.5), and hope finding through members' stories (4.1).
    2. Middle sessions: life-domain review and goal setting (4.6–4.7), stepping and pathways (4.8–4.10), barrier planning (4.12), and agency work (4.13–4.14). Members suggest routes for each other's goals.
    3. Final sessions: progress review, regoaling (4.17), a hope-reminding plan (4.20), and ending.
    • Weekly between-session goal steps reviewed in each group.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Sam's stuck on the second step. Group, let's generate as many routes as we can in three minutes, and Sam picks."
  • Watch for: members comparing progress with each other; keep comparisons to each person's own baseline (principle 7).

4.23 Herth-style group components for illness and loss

  • Purpose / when: Use in health or bereavement settings. Herth's Hope Intervention Program is based on a different hope model with three dimensions: cognitive-temporal, affective-behavioural and affiliative-contextual [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps (components as listed; their sequence is not given) [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]:
    • set plausible goals;
    • break them into steps;
    • adjust the steps after setbacks;
    • share stories of courage;
    • build community within the group;
    • encourage support from outside the group;
    • explore meaning in the illness or loss.
  • Example language (illustrative): "This week, could each of you share a moment in the illness when you surprised yourself with courage?"
  • Watch for: pressure to be positive; leave room for despair and grief.

4.24 Single-session goal-pursuit intervention

  • Purpose / when: Use when contact is brief (one 90-minute session), for example in student counselling. Tested by Feldman & Dreher (2012) with a one-month follow-up on a goal the student chose [source: IFP abstract].
  • Steps [uncertain: from recall of the paper]: brief psychoeducation on hope theory; choosing one personally important goal; written mapping of the goal into steps, pathways, obstacles and agency thoughts; and a guided visualisation of pursuing the goal. Follow up at one month.
  • Example language (illustrative): "We have one session, so let's pick the goal that would matter most if it moved over the next month, and map it fully before you leave."
  • Watch for: goals too big for a month.

4.25 School and family hope programmes

  • Purpose / when: Use with children and adolescents. Marques et al. (2011) delivered 5 weekly sessions to middle-school students, with their guardians and teachers involved as secondary groups. Gains in hope, life satisfaction and self-worth were maintained at 18 months [source: Repositório UP abstract]. Snyder's group also published hope books for children, parents and teachers (McDermott & Snyder, 1999, 2000; Snyder et al., 1997) [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. Session contents [uncertain].
  • Steps (adapted from the components above) [synthesis]:
    1. Teach goals, pathways and agency in child-friendly terms.
    2. Use hope-modelling stories (4.15).
    3. Practise goal setting and stepping with school goals.
    4. Draw a hope map (goal, routes, obstacles, encouraging thoughts) as a visual version of 4.8–4.13.
    5. Brief parents and teachers on hope language, so they can reinforce routes and effort.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Your goal is the finish flag. Draw two roads to it, a rock that might block one road, and something you'll say to yourself to keep walking."
  • Watch for: adults setting the child's goals; involve the child in choosing them.

4.26 Hopeful consultation for helpers

  • Purpose / when: Use for therapists, teachers and other helpers at risk of burnout. Lopez's slides note that helpers can prevent burnout through hopeful consultation [source: Lopez slides]. Procedure not described [uncertain].
  • Steps (adapted) [synthesis]: in supervision or peer consultation, apply 4.6–4.13 to the helper's own work goals, and specifically review cases that are going well.
  • Watch for: the clinician's own low hope being passed on to clients.

4.27 Adjunct mood and energy supports

  • Purpose / when: Use to support agency when energy is low. The agency checklist includes sleep, exercise, relaxation and cutting down on stimulants and alcohol [source: Lopez slides]. Listening to positive music (Ziv et al., 2011) appears among the reviewed interventions [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012].
  • Steps: pick one area of daily-living support, make it a small goal, and step it (4.8). Set no specific exercise targets.
  • Watch for: health tasks crowding out the client's own valued goals.

5. Handling problems

The sources give principles (wrong-pathway framing, regoaling, don't over-check, plan for barriers) but no troubleshooting section. Most of what follows is therefore my own synthesis built on those principles. Where a response comes straight from a source, it is tagged.

  • The client sees no goals at all ("nothing matters").
    • Lower the bar: run a life-domain review (4.6) and ask for goals for the next 24 hours.
    • Use hope finding (4.1) to locate past wants.
    • Screen for depression. Hope work can sit alongside activity scheduling, problem solving and cognitive restructuring, as in the Kirmani & Sharma case [source: positivepsychology.com].
    • [synthesis]
  • Hopelessness with suicidal thinking.
    • Hope therapy does not replace risk assessment. Assess suicidal ideation, intent, plans, history and protective factors using your service's standard procedure.
    • Make a collaborative safety plan, including lethal-means counselling (safe storage or removal), and step up care as needed before or alongside hope work.
    • Reasons for living and near-term goals can then feed into the plan.
    • [synthesis]
  • "Yes, but" to every pathway (stuck or resistant).
    • Stop proposing routes yourself. Ask the client for deliberately bad or absurd routes, then look for what is usable in them.
    • Check whether the goal is really theirs (4.6). Low ownership often looks like resistance.
    • Check whether pathways or agency is the real block: "Suppose this route would definitely work. Would you start it?"
    • [synthesis]
  • Self-blame after a failed step. Reframe it as a wrong pathway, not a personal flaw [source: Lopez slides]. Review what the attempt taught, then pick a backup route (4.12).
  • Over-monitoring or perfectionism. Discourage frequent "How am I doing?" checks and encourage enjoying the process [source: Lopez slides]. Agree on progress reviews at set intervals only [synthesis].
  • Unrealistic goals or false hope. Obstacle thinking should be grounded in reality [source: Lopez slides]. Test feasibility by stepping (4.8). If the goal is truly blocked, regoal (4.17) while keeping the value it served [source: Lopez slides; positivepsychology.com].
  • Overwhelm. Shrink the goal to its first subgoal [source: positivepsychology.com] and reduce the number of active goals to one. Use relaxation before imagery work [synthesis].
  • Non-adherence to between-session steps or reminding tasks. Review it without judgement, as a barrier to plan for. Shrink the task, tie it to an existing routine, and check that the task is the client's choice [synthesis].
  • Alliance ruptures (the client feels pushed into positivity or unheard).
    • Name the rupture and own your part, for example "I think I moved to solutions before you'd finished telling me how bad it's been."
    • Go back to hope finding and listening.
    • Re-agree goals and tasks, since this is how the alliance is meant to work in hope bonding [source: positivepsychology.com for the alliance mapping; the rupture response is synthesis].
  • Invalidation and "toxic positivity" risk. Acknowledge pain fully before asking about silver linings or hopeful themes (4.16), and never make a positive reframe a condition of progress [synthesis].
  • Grief, chronic illness or permanent loss. Use Herth-style components: meaning, stories of courage, outside support (4.23) [source: Weis & Speridakos 2012]. Do regoaling slowly, after the grief has been given room [synthesis].
  • Trauma. Imagery and early-memory narrative work (4.2, 4.11) can trigger trauma memories. Ask consent, keep the focus on goal rehearsal rather than past events, give grounding options, and refer to a trauma-focused treatment if intrusions appear [synthesis].
  • Group problems. Members compare themselves or one member dominates. Set the norm of comparing with yourself, timebox each member's slot, and let the group generate routes while the member chooses [synthesis].
  • Children.
    • Watch for adult-imposed goals, and for low agency rooted in a family context.
    • Involve parents and teachers as hope models (4.25) [source: Repositório UP abstract for involving them; the rest is synthesis].
    • Safeguarding concerns take priority over goal work [synthesis].
  • Real external barriers (poverty, discrimination, unsafe settings).
    • Do not frame structural barriers as faulty thinking.
    • Build pathways that include advocacy, practical resources and asking for help (4.18).
    • Choose goals within the client's control.
    • [synthesis]
  • Cultural fit. Ask whether goals are personal or collective, and adjust "agency" language toward family or community goals where that fits better [synthesis] [uncertain: not addressed in the sources].
  • Known risks. None were documented in the sources [uncertain].

Sources

Sources:

Further reading (not drawn on unless listed above):

  • Lopez, S. J., Floyd, R. K., Ulven, J. C., & Snyder, C. R. (2000). Hope therapy: Helping clients build a house of hope. In C. R. Snyder (Ed.), Handbook of hope (pp. 123–150). Academic Press.
  • Snyder, C. R. (1994). The psychology of hope: You can get there from here. Free Press.
  • Snyder, C. R. (Ed.) (2000). Handbook of hope: Theory, measures, and applications. Academic Press.
  • Snyder, C. R. (2002). Hope theory: Rainbows in the mind. Psychological Inquiry, 13(4), 249–275.
  • Snyder, C. R., McDermott, D., Cook, W., & Rapoff, M. A. (1997). Hope for the journey. Westview Press.
  • McDermott, D., & Snyder, C. R. (1999). Making hope happen. New Harbinger.
  • McDermott, D., & Snyder, C. R. (2000). The great big book of hope. New Harbinger.
  • Cheavens, J. S., Feldman, D. B., Gum, A., Michael, S. T., & Snyder, C. R. (2006). Hope therapy in a community sample: A pilot investigation. Social Indicators Research, 77, 61–78.
  • Cheavens, J. S., & Guter, M. M. (2018). Hope therapy. In M. W. Gallagher & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of hope (pp. 133–142). Oxford University Press.
  • Feldman, D. B., & Dreher, D. E. (2012). Can hope be changed in 90 minutes? Journal of Happiness Studies, 13, 745–759.
  • Herth, K. A. (2001). Development and implementation of a hope intervention program. Oncology Nursing Forum, 28, 1009–1017.
  • Marques, S. C., Lopez, S. J., & Pais-Ribeiro, J. L. (2011). "Building hope for the future": A program to foster strengths in middle-school students. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12, 139–152.
  • Chan, K., Wong, F. K., & Lee, P. H. (2019). A brief hope intervention to increase hope level and improve well-being in rehabilitating cancer patients. SAGE Open Nursing, 5.
  • Kirmani, M. N., & Sharma, P. (2015). Hope therapy in depression: A clinical case work. International Journal of Public Mental Health and Neurosciences.
  • Rand, K. L., & Cheavens, J. S. (2009). Hope theory. In S. J. Lopez & C. R. Snyder (Eds.), Oxford handbook of positive psychology (pp. 323–333). Oxford University Press.
← Previous · II-185Quality of life therapyNext · II-187 →Strengths-based approaches