The Enhancement Model: Basic Principles for Counseling

1. Enhancement Counselors work with the whole person - we can not be career counselors, educational counselors, or psychological counselors - we are people counselors.
2. Enhancement Counselors value the worth and dignity of every human being - our role is neither to condemn nor condone but to understand - we are on our client's side rather than on their case.
3. The process of Enhancement counseling is an effective relationship at work - who we are is as important as what we do.
4. Enhancement Counselors understand the unique responsibility of their professional task and because they care about their clients they strive to be as competent as they can be, both technically and personally - this is their primary professional commitment.
5. Enhancement Counselors are aware of the golden and silver rules of counseling. The golden rule is at least do no harm. The silver rule is you can't help a client grow beyond where you are.
6. Counselor Training, at its best, is insufficient, we must have people training which is a never ending process.
7. Enhancement Counselors accept their clients where they are as O.K. - clients sometimes do not O.K. or ineffective things but they are always O.K.
8. Problems in inter-psyche functioning are reflected in inter-personal functioning -if you change one you change the other and neither can be ignored.
9. There is a relationship between thinking, feeling, and behavior and if you change one, you change the others.
10. Change can be fun and exciting rather than hard and depressing - laughter is just as cathartic as crying and feels much better (Krieger's rule: at least two giggles for every sob).
11. Enhancement Counselors ought to be counselors and not greenhouse keepers (who like to raise exotic emotions for display) or archeologists (who search for interesting artifacts in the past in hopes of finding the missing link).
12. People are ineffective because of past decisions they made and they can make new decisions and put a new show on the road.
13. Enhancement Counselors who are most effective don't need to be counselors - they do counseling or other people work because they like to.
14. Enhancement Counselors should stop listening to their teachers and listen to their clients.
15. Counseling and other people approaches are only tools and even if learned and used by clients are insufficient for leading an effective life - this takes a well developed value system.

Nobody promised you a rose garden, but you can grow your own!