Closing

You respond with: “Your decision to start with the topic of stress management was quite strategic; you realize that this topic affects all areas of your life, and in particular you have identified smoking. You are well aware that stress fuels your smoking and prevents you from quitting. So given this close relationship between smoking and stress I wonder how you feel about spending the rest of our time today discussing stress management strategies and also the relationship between your stress and your smoking. I think it might be really helpful to tease these two areas apart even further. What do you think about this idea?”

Analise responds: “I think this could be helpful. You’re right, stress and smoking keep me caught in a viscous circle. I smoke because I’m stressed and I’m stressed because I smoke.”

Your final task will be to summarize the agenda mapping process.

You respond with: “Alright then it sounds like we have a plan for the rest of our time today. You would like to learn some practical stress management strategies and relaxation techniques and we will have also agreed to explore and tease out the relationship between your stress and your smoking. At the end of today’s session you can let me know if you would like to come back for additional sessions at which time we can either continue with this agenda or return to our topic list to reconsider our options. How does this plan sound to you?

Analise responds: “It sounds good to me!”