Some clients reject everything that looks like persuasion. You offer reassurance, they negate it. You propose a plan, they push back. The more sensibly you try to lead them somewhere better, the more entrenched they get in the place they’re already standing.
This is the work Dr Dan Short has spent nearly 30 years refining. After decades inside Ericksonian hypnosis and therapy, he and his colleagues have begun naming what’s actually happening in those sessions where a stuck client suddenly finds a way forward without being instructed, persuaded, or formally induced. He calls it Ericksonian Choice Architecture.
It draws on behavioural economics, hypnosis research and clinical practice to build a communication model rather than a treatment model. You step out of the role of change agent and into the role of choice architect. Instead of starting from the premise that the client is broken and needs fixing, you work with the unconscious heuristics shaping their decisions and set up the conditions for them to find their own way through.
This course is the first time Dan has taught the model in this structured form for English-speaking practitioners. Across three hours and twelve lessons, he walks through the case material that built the model: the suicidal couple at the desk, the man with the frozen arm, the thumb-sucking teen, the client with the weapon nearby, the woman who couldn’t speak to her principal. Each case shows a different mechanism at work, and a different way to use it in the room.
If you’ve ever finished a session knowing the client needed something other than what your training said to do, this course is for you.
You’ll walk away with
- A working understanding of choice architecture and how it differs from hypnosis, persuasion and change-based therapy
- Practical language tools for clients who reject positive framing, including no-oriented propositions and negatively calibrated predictions
- A clinical framework for thinking in states rather than traits, and sharper awareness of how diagnostic labels can backfire
- A reusable approach to choice restriction in moments of crisis
- Techniques for working with reactant, defiant and risk-averse clients
- Ways to help clients author their own solutions so the work actually sticks
- A model for high-risk presentations where the client doesn’t trust help
- Tools for de-escalating high-conflict couples and redesigning the physical setup of a session
- A finishing-school understanding of how to choose your own state of mind before walking into the room
Watch the course trailer
CPD Information For Mental Health Professionals
Enjoy complete flexibility with 100% self-paced learning you can access anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Pay once for lifetime access.
Course Duration: 3 learning hours
Certificate and CPD hours: On completion you’ll receive a Certificate of Completion to support your CPD records.
Assessment: Complete a short quiz at the end (80% pass mark), which you can resit as many times as needed.
Lifetime Access: Your access to the course does not expire, so you can revisit main concepts anytime you want a refresher for practice.
CPD Eligibility: This program may be suitable for CPD for professionals such as:
- Psychologists
- Counsellors and Psychotherapists
- Social Workers
- Community Workers
- Mental Health Nurses
- General Practitioners (GPs)
- Occupational Therapists
CPD requirements vary between professional bodies, so please check with your association or credentialing body to confirm you can claim CPD hours/OPD points for this program and what evidence they require.
