Intervention
Assignment Framing Template
Design the framing language for a between-session directive before the session — so the assignment arrives as an invitation, not a test.
How a directive is offered determines whether it will be completed. The same assignment, framed as an evaluation of the client’s commitment, produces a different result than the same assignment framed as a low-stakes option the client can take or leave. Most homework non-completion traces to framing problems rather than resistance problems.
Complete this template before the session in which you plan to offer a directive. The framing language should not be improvised in the room.
Assignment Framing Template
Client (initials or identifier): Date of preparation: Assignment to be offered:
The assignment
State the assignment in one sentence — exactly what the client will do:
The clinical rationale
What will you tell the client about why this assignment is useful? Write it in plain language, as you would say it in session:
Does the rationale connect directly to the problem the client came in with?
( ) Yes ( ) Needs adjustment — revise before the session
The low-stakes permission
Write the permission phrase — the language that removes performance pressure from the assignment. Adapt it to this client’s register:
Standard form: “You don’t have to share it with me unless you want to.”
Your adapted version:
What completion looks like
Describe the specific action the client will take — not a general description, but the actual behavior:
When will they do it? (Ask the client to decide in session — this question alone increases follow-through):
“When this week do you expect to do this, and where will you be?”
Space for recording their answer in session:
If the assignment is completed
What is your opening question for the next session?
What are you listening for in the client’s answer?
If the assignment is not completed
Write the non-judgmental response you will use — specific language that opens inquiry rather than communicates disappointment:
What diagnostic question will you ask to identify which non-completion pattern applies?
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