Understanding the role of hope in counselling: Exploring the intentional uses of hope

Abstract

In this paper we look at various conceptual models of hope and research evidence for the integral role that hope plays in counselling. We recognize hope as a dynamic process during which counsellor and client interact in ways that can be mutually influencing and we review research that explores this reciprocal process. A model for the intentional use of hope in counselling that recognizes both implicit and explicit approaches is offered. Metaphors for hope-work that position and re-position both counsellor and client in ways that may foster hope are explored. Finally, we provide suggestions for initiating conversations in which hope can be an explicit therapeutic focus.

Keywords:

• hope
• counselling
• counselling process
• counselling psychology
• discourse

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to express their gratitude to Drs Ronna Jevne, de Sales Turner, Gina-Wong-Wylie, and Yi Li for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

Notes

Notes

[1] To some extent the field of hope research has evolved around a number of now reasonably well-identified dichotomies (Turner & Stokes, in press). Nekolaichuk (2005) sees this diversity as based on differing opinions and diverse populations from which hope models are induced. Eliott (2005) also acknowledges the presence of differing meanings of the word hope attributing these differences to the point that the speaker intends to make. We appreciate this perspective. Rather than lamenting the lack of a unified perspective on hope Eliott and Olver (2002) suggest that this diversity has the power to inform our understandings about the ways in which hope can be understood and usefully employed in clinical practice.

[2] Research at the Hope Foundation has begun exploring in-session interactions and experiences of clients and counsellor to better understand how hope is experienced and fostered during counselling.

[3] Due to space constraints details on the continuum of implicit and explicit approaches is discussed further in a separate paper.

[4] While common to hope models, not all researchers conceptualize hope as focused exclusively on the future. Most notably models developed with the seriously and terminally ill often include a strong focus on the present and finding hope in the moment e.g., Benzein, Norberg and Saveman, 2001.