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First Step Family Violence Intervention Center

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Choice Theory and Reality Therapy

Reality Therapy, developed by Dr. William Glasser, is based on his theory of human behavior called Choice Theory. The principle of the theory and the therapy is that an individual is ultimately responsible for their own choice of behavior. Behavior includes what the individual is doing, thinking, feeling and how life situations are perceived, not just the observable actions. Choice Theory states that behavior is determined from within the individual and changes in behavior serve the purpose of giving the individual a better sense of control of life situations including relationships with others. Therefore lasting change can best be realized by addressing personal strengths and building upon these strengths with the guidance of a trained and experienced professional who teaches and guides the individual to practice Choice Theory and Reality Therapy. Because of our innovative implementation of Dr. Glasser's theory in our programs First Step is mentioned in his book Choice Theory as a case study of progressive and successful client treatment.

The methods of Reality Therapy involve certain procedures, or steps, which serve to help an individual move to where they want to be. If this assistance is accepted from First Step the individual will be...

  • Encouraged to identify and clarify their personal wants, needs, and goals and determine how and when they can be obtained.
  • Helped in the process of evaluating these wants, needs, and goals and determine how and when they can be obtained.
  • Assisted in the planning action that is mutually determined by the individual and the staff member

It has been proven that through knowledge and personal application of Reality Therapy an individual can begin to develop a strong success identity and thus is able to achieve a happier, more need satisfying way of life.

The practice of Reality Therapy simply teaches an individual that each of us can be in control of our own life, happiness, and destiny. We all have unlimited choices to pick from; it is these choices that we make which can determine the direction we will go in life and how we satisfy our needs and wants and obtain a satisfying, happy, and abuse-free lifestyle.

The Ten Axioms of Choice Theory

  1. The only person whose behavior we can control is our own.
  2. All we can give another person is information.
  3. All long-lasting psychological problems are relationship problems.
  4. The problem in relationships is always part of our present life.
  5. What happened in the past has everything to do with what we are today, but we can only satisfy our basic needs right now and plan to continue satisfying them in the future.
  6. We can only satisfy our needs by satisfying the pictures in our Quality World.
  7. All we do is behave.
  8. All behavior is Total Behavior and is made up of four components: acting, thinking, feeling and physiology.
  9. All Total Behavior is chosen, but we only have direct control over the acting and thinking components. We can only control our feeling and physiology indirectly through how we choose to act and think.
  10. All Total Behavior is designated by verbs and named by the part that is the most recognizable.

 

 

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