Acceptance of responsibility for decisions is one of the most difficult things clients face in their lives. Counselors' awareness and appreciation of the potential burden and threat that taking responsibility represents to clients are prerequisite to dealing with resistance in a positive manner. Making Excuses Another way of understanding, interpreting, and working with resistance is to consider the concept of excuses. Making excuses for their actions or inactions may be a way for clients to resist taking responsibility for their behavior, for not responding to the demands of the career counseling process and the tasks which may be involved. Some clients are silent and passive.
Some clients show up late for career counseling sessions.
Some clients do not show up at all for career counseling. Understanding that resistance can and does take place in career counseling, recognizing the patterns resistive clients use, and knowing how to work with resistance, if present, within the career counseling process are crucial. Although there are no strategies that are guaranteed to completely clear away resistance, the following examples of counseling strategies have been found to be helpful. However you come to understand and work with client resistance in career counseling, it is important to remember that a strong client-counselor working alliance is the foundation. A strong client-counselor working alliance may also open the door to provide new insights about ways to interpret client behavior.