Pick Up Stix
Therapy with offenders and abusers can be very complex. There are a myriad of issues, all intertwined with each other, and all very sensitive and fragile. The wrong approach can generate reactivity, shut down the session, or alienate the client from all further work.
Using pickup stix can help demonstrate to a client how intertwined all the issues are and how you can't just work on all of them at once, or even the most important one first. You have to start with what is accessible, workable, perhaps not as threatening - something that won't bring the house down. Pick one stick or one color - do it before or after you throw the sticks - then notice all you have to move before you can get to that core issue. Going straight for it can bring down the house, so to speak. It has to be a strategy and one has to notice all the issues that come together to make one big issue - all the ingredients in the wicked stew!
Pick Up Stix make the dilemma clear and tangible - you can see it right in front of you. It makes total sense because most people played the game at sometime growing up, or at least watched someone playing it. They know it requires skill and patience, something traumatized people can have in short supply. But explaining it this way gives people an image they can conjure up when they're feeling impatient and wondering why it's taking so damned long!
Utilizing Pick Up Styx also brings to mind the concept Deus Absconditus—-the God hidden in the dung heap! Often, the most essential thing we need to address or figure out is the hardest one to get to, requiring the most work, embarrassment, and/or shame. The key to core-level change is often found where we least want to look!
Therapy with offenders and abusers can be very complex. There are a myriad of issues, all intertwined with each other, and all very sensitive and fragile. The wrong approach can generate reactivity, shut down the session, or alienate the client from all further work.
Using pickup stix can help demonstrate to a client how intertwined all the issues are and how you can't just work on all of them at once, or even the most important one first. You have to start with what is accessible, workable, perhaps not as threatening - something that won't bring the house down. Pick one stick or one color - do it before or after you throw the sticks - then notice all you have to move before you can get to that core issue. Going straight for it can bring down the house, so to speak. It has to be a strategy and one has to notice all the issues that come together to make one big issue - all the ingredients in the wicked stew!
Pick Up Stix make the dilemma clear and tangible - you can see it right in front of you. It makes total sense because most people played the game at sometime growing up, or at least watched someone playing it. They know it requires skill and patience, something traumatized people can have in short supply. But explaining it this way gives people an image they can conjure up when they're feeling impatient and wondering why it's taking so damned long!
Utilizing Pick Up Styx also brings to mind the concept Deus Absconditus—-the God hidden in the dung heap! Often, the most essential thing we need to address or figure out is the hardest one to get to, requiring the most work, embarrassment, and/or shame. The key to core-level change is often found where we least want to look!
Therapy with offenders and abusers can be very complex. There are a myriad of issues, all intertwined with each other, and all very sensitive and fragile. The wrong approach can generate reactivity, shut down the session, or alienate the client from all further work.
Using pickup stix can help demonstrate to a client how intertwined all the issues are and how you can't just work on all of them at once, or even the most important one first. You have to start with what is accessible, workable, perhaps not as threatening - something that won't bring the house down. Pick one stick or one color - do it before or after you throw the sticks - then notice all you have to move before you can get to that core issue. Going straight for it can bring down the house, so to speak. It has to be a strategy and one has to notice all the issues that come together to make one big issue - all the ingredients in the wicked stew!
Pick Up Stix make the dilemma clear and tangible - you can see it right in front of you. It makes total sense because most people played the game at sometime growing up, or at least watched someone playing it. They know it requires skill and patience, something traumatized people can have in short supply. But explaining it this way gives people an image they can conjure up when they're feeling impatient and wondering why it's taking so damned long!
Utilizing Pick Up Styx also brings to mind the concept Deus Absconditus—-the God hidden in the dung heap! Often, the most essential thing we need to address or figure out is the hardest one to get to, requiring the most work, embarrassment, and/or shame. The key to core-level change is often found where we least want to look!