Internal Locus of Control

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It's important for us to understand what locus of control is because it can have a major impact on how we interact with our clients and how they respond. The Science PT said we want to encourage our clients to have an internal locus of control from an ethical standpoint. This is because individuals with an internal LoC take ownership of their struggles and are committed to making a change, which is important for therapy. Now, clients with an external LoC are not terrible people and can't be helped; we just have to learn how to communicate and assist them to lead them towards an internal LoC at least for their recovery process.

I really enjoyed reading the article because it gave us ideas on how to encourage an internal LoC, which is so important for novices, like us! One way to encourage it is to point them towards the good in life. This can be done through active listening and a positive attitude. Another way is to remind the client that they make the final decision in THEIR recovery process! As a future OT, this is something we've learned all throughout school therefore it is not hard for us to do. We are very client-centered and holistic practitioners.We are the best role models for our future clients since we will be working with them extensively and if we can practice an internal LoC hopefully it'll influence our clients as well.

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