Resource Activation: Bringing Values into the Flesh

Without the right power sources, clients can achieve very little in therapy. It is no surprise, therefore, that empirical research has identified the activation of resources as an essential effective factor. Personal values are powerful resources. They always have a positive significance for the person, and indicate what is truly important and valuable to that person. They provide information on what the person wants to be involved in. Their origins lie in the correspondingly powerful and reinforcing experiences the client is happy to identify himself with. This resources orientation also helps the client to submit to a therapy which, it has to be admitted, look more like deficit orientation. Often the aspired-to changes are not easy to achieve, clients have to withstand anxieties and go through motivation crises. A felt value helps to justify this strenuous enterprise. Clients can then feel again why they are taking on all these efforts and want to invest the necessary energy. The activation of a suitable value system reinforces self-confidence, reduces stress, and increases the willingness to open oneself and to work on achieving difficult goals. The work in the spirit of embodiment takes the term “value stance” quite literally. Body posture and movement are linked in a suitable way with a value stance. This ensures both the rapid availability as well as the reinforcing effect of this resource—even in difficult situations.