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Adlerian work / ADL-A12-4

Catching the Pattern Kindly — Session activity

Facilitate a structured practice of catching the pattern kindly with preparation, reflection, and an agreed closing.

30 minutes · Session guide · Mental health professionals

Download printable PDFPreview / add to packet

Fictional example: Morgan notices opening another planning app instead of starting a task.

Use within your training and assessment of readiness. Recognizing a familiar pattern is an opportunity rather than a failure.

0–5 min | Agree on purpose and fit

Explain the educational scope. Ask what would be useful, check readiness and access needs, and establish choices to observe, adapt, or pass. Use an ordinary example; do not solicit trauma narratives.

5–10 min | Orient with an example

Recognizing a familiar pattern is an opportunity rather than a failure. Fictional example: Morgan notices opening another planning app instead of starting a task. Ask what is observed and what remains uncertain.

10–20 min | Practice and compare

Identify an early cue for a self-defeating habit and create a neutral noticing phrase. Offer quiet individual work, a supported conversation, or an observing role. Compare two possible responses without evaluating people as right or wrong.

20–25 min | Reflect on meaning

What phrase helps you notice without shaming yourself? Ask what fit, what did not fit, and how culture, power, disability access, or external conditions affect the options.

25–30 min | Integrate and close

Invite one optional next step or support request. Orient to the current setting, allow an unfinished question to remain unfinished, and agree how to revisit it. End early or adapt if activation increases.

Adaptations

For a group, use fiction and no compulsory round-robin disclosure. For remote use, allow off-camera reflection and private notes. For brief use, keep one example and one question while retaining opening and closing choices.

Prompts for this resource

  1. What outcome would make this practice useful?
  2. What phrase helps you notice without shaming yourself?
  3. What adaptation or follow-up is needed?

Conceptual background

Alfred Adler: Theory and Application — Adler Graduate School

Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.

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