Stamina Lab Blog
Insights on solution-focused coaching, communication, and the science behind lasting patient and client outcomes.
Coaching the “Uncoachable”: How a Solution-Focused Stance Reaches Reluctant Clients
Discover why traditional motivation-building can stall with reluctant or mandated clients — and how a Solution-Focused approach creates genuine engagement from the very first question.
Stop Fighting for Your Client
When a client knows what to do but isn’t doing it, the instinct is to fight for them. Here’s why that backfires, and the Solution-Focused move that puts ownership back where it belongs.
Select and Preserve: Why Your Paraphrasing Might Be Blocking Client Progress
When you paraphrase a client’s words, you’re making a choice — not just a communication decision. Research into the microanalysis of therapeutic conversations shows that how practitioners handle client contributions directly predicts follow-through. Here’s what the evidence says.
The Brief Coaching Session: Why You Should Stop Evoking Motivation and Start Building a Preferred Future
The check-in is scheduled for 15 minutes. Your client is struggling with a habit they’ve committed to...
When They’re Already Motivated: Why Motivational Interviewing Can Stall Your Patient’s Progress
When a patient has already decided to change, Motivational Interviewing’s evocative structure can slow their momentum. Here is what the evidence shows about a different approach.
Motivational Interviewing vs. Solution-Focused: What the Evidence Says About Patient Follow-Through
You explain the plan clearly. The person leaves seemingly committed — and yet the follow-through never happens. When this pattern repeats, the evidence suggests the problem may not be their motivation, but the structural starting point of the conversation itself.