Where Am I Coming From?

As promised (or should that be threatened) here's one of the MANY essays I'll be churning out over the next month. This one is all about my perspective on how a person changes and the impact this may have on me in my professional practice. Enjoy :P

In the weeks before Semester 1 started this year, I decided that I would give up smoking cigarettes.
I have been a smoker since I was about 20 years old. I took up the habit as it seemed to be the social norm in my circle of friends and my place of employment. Something I deeply regret doing as I know realise that it is little more than a filthy habit that provides nothing other than a financial drain and potential health problems.
This change came about as a result in a major change of thinking on my part, I made the decision that I was sick of being a slave to my addiction and that it was about time I made an effort to start looking after my own health a little.
I have made previous attempts to stop smoking with my longest period of abstinence being around 3-4 months and have tried numerous methods ranging from going ‘cold turkey’ to Nicotine Replacement Therapy and even through reading books aimed at quitting this deadly habit of mine.
In this particular instance, my decision to quit smoking was driven by a New Year’s Resolution I had made – to gain 10kg and maintain this weight. This seems totally irrelevant to my intended behaviour change, but I decided that the best way to put on weight was to begin working out at a local gym. In turn, for this to be most effective I came to the conclusion that smoking would be prove to be more detrimental to my efforts than anything else.
As well as this, there were the numerous other positive points that came along with not smoking.
These include the obvious things such as the financial benefits of not buying cigarettes, the absence of the horrible scent of stale smoke and of course the numerous health benefits. But also some of the more subtle things such as the ability to actually taste food (a major plus considering I work as a Chef) and also the return of my appetite. But perhaps the most alluring idea was the confidence boost of knowing that I had finally managed to overcome my addiction to one of societies most addictive and damaging legal substances.
The other benefit for me was that around the time I had decided I wanted to give up smoking was that I had begun dating a non-smoker which provided me with that extra little incentive to give up.
Although I chose not to tell anyone initially (in the past this had resulted in my ‘smoking’ friends scoffing at my attempts and further scorning when I failed an attempt to quit), I knew that I would have the support of my family regardless. Though with the majority of them being non-smokers they seem to forget just how difficult it can be to overcome the urge to light up.
Unfortunately, I was unable to maintain this as a permanent change and began smoking again after only a month of abstinence. However, even though I was unable to quit smoking successfully, I have managed to find a number of circumstances which ‘trigger’ my desire to light up a cigarette. In effect, my failure has allowed me to further understand why I smoke and will hopefully allow me to avoid becoming complacent in future attempts to quit.
It has also shown me that sometimes change moves along more of a cyclical plane rather than a linear one, where although a change has been made, life will almost always present you with an opportunity to return to your former self and begin the cycle all over again.
From this experience, my overall assumption of the desire to change would be that a person takes note of something in their lives that he/she wants to change. This then leads to a process of weighing up the positives and negatives of pursuing the change itself. Further to this we will often consider our close friends and family when we undergo the ‘change’, both for their reaction and their support. If this change reverts back to its original state then it could be easily misconstrued as a failure of sorts, but can also be viewed in a much more optimistic manner whereby the person can learn why the change wasn’t successful and should they decide to try again in the future this could be very useful in deciding what the most appropriate time and manner for the process to begin again.
On a very basic level, my assumption of change is that it begins with someone identifying something about themselves or their environment that they either dislike or feel that it would benefit from an adjustment of some description. This change can either become a permanent modification of the aspect of the person’s life or it can revert to what it was in the beginning.
Either way, it is important to remember that change isn’t a spontaneous occurrence, it takes time and effort to change and can often require further energy to maintain until such time as the new behaviour or environment becomes like second nature to you.
My experience of the nature of how change comes about fits well with the theories of change associated with that of the strength based theory of practice.
According to Smith (2006) the core belief of the strength based approach is to instil a sense of hope in the client to assist them to facilitate change in their lives. This in turn allows a client to develop a sense of self-worth and something of a ‘I can do this’ attitude. According to Smith (2006) this sense of hope also works as a buffer for the client against those negative factors which may arise to prevent the client from successfully facilitating change in their lives.
The process of change comes about initially by setting a goal (ie. giving up smoking) and then looking at what supports are available to the client to achieve these goals.
Smith (2006) also tells us that the strength based theory suggests the use of smaller interim goals to make the overall goal seem more achievable. In my situation, this meant making little goals such as going for 24 hours without a cigarette, then a week and so on. For me this turned the somewhat intimidating goal of never smoking again into a much more achievable goal. Smith (2006) suggests that this process also helps us to achieve a level of resilience, this is important as it encourages the client to develop their own problem solving strategies and better coping skills.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the Strength Based approach is that it acknowledges that we won’t always manage to achieve the goals we set for ourselves on the first time around. Instead it builds on my own personal assumptions that failure can be an important learning exercise for the next time we attempt to change (Smith, 2006).

From a practice perspective, this has shown me that we all go about making change in different ways and it is important as a worker to acknowledge this. Although I clearly have a strong affinity with the core beliefs of the strength based theory of change, this may not be effective in all situations and need to be aware of this in order to get the best possible outcomes for my clients.

 
References:
Smith, E. J. (2006). The Strength-Based Counseling Model. The Counseling Psychologist , 34 (1), 13-79.