Stephen Falconieri, CAC

Primary Therapist

Turnbridge

“The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.”-Carl Rogers

As the quote above (written by Carl Rogers, founder of Person Centered Therapy) describes, when a person can accept their condition it is then that they can begin the road to change, the road to recovery. Quite often, this first step is the hardest one to take. It is frequently only taken after great personal struggle or loss. However, part of good counseling is assisting a person in being able to acknowledge how drugs and/or alcohol have played a role in their difficulties with family, school, and/or employers.  This can be accomplished through the use of Motivational Interviewing. The counselor should be empathic and non- judgmental. The counselor rolls with the person’s resistance and allows the client to resolve their ambivalence in their own words by asking the right questions and encouraging “change talk’. In my opinion it is far more impactful when a person articulates their own reasons and arguments for changing destructive behaviors. I always fought against the “musts “in life myself, I still occasionally do. Once a person brings into their awareness the existence of a problem, and they accept it, then they can begin the process of authentic change.