Clients’ Perspectives on, Experiences of, and Contributions to the Working Alliance

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the “other side” (argued here as the more important side) of the working alliance—that is, clients’ perspectives, experiences, and contributions. The authors provide a practice-friendly review of the research on clients’ understandings of the alliance and offer suggestions and techniques that professionals can use to develop and maintain a working alliance that is responsive to clients’ subjective understandings. Moreover, they remind clinicians that the client’s experience of the working alliance is more predictive of successful counseling and psychotherapy than clinician’s own experience of the working alliance. Therefore, clinicians should dedicate significant effort on the development of a working alliance that fosters openness and positive emotions. Particular emphasis should be placed on the early interactions in and prior to psychological treatment, the relational experience of interventions, and the value of micro-skills (i.e., validation) when developing and maintaining a working alliance.