Intervention
Minimal Directive Design Template
Reduce a proposed directive to its smallest effective form before offering it to a client with a history of refusals.
The most common mistake with clients who refuse suggestions is asking for too much. Haley’s principle of minimum necessary intervention holds that the correct directive is the smallest one that could still accomplish the clinical purpose. A client who refuses elaborate homework will often accept a single, specific, low-investment task — and completing it changes the relational field in ways that make subsequent suggestions receivable.
Use this template before assigning any directive to a client with a history of refusals. Run the full directive through the reduction process, identify the core, and arrive at the minimum version before the session. Then review the minimum version in the five minutes before you walk in.
Minimal Directive Design Template
Client (initials or identifier): Date of preparation: Planned session for delivery:
The full directive
Write out the directive you originally wanted to give — the complete version, before any reduction:
The core therapeutic purpose
What is the one thing this directive needs to accomplish? State it in a single sentence:
The reduction process
For each element of the full directive, identify whether it is essential to the core purpose or supplementary:
| Element of the directive | Essential or supplementary? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
What can be removed without compromising the core purpose?
The minimum version
Write the minimum directive in one sentence, stated plainly. No rationale, no context — just the ask:
The framing phrase
How will you introduce this directive in session? Write the specific language — not a summary, the actual words:
What success looks like
At this minimum level, what would count as adequate completion?
Does partial completion count? If so, what does that look like?
If the minimum is completed
What would you offer next, and at what point in the therapy?
Next directive (after success with this one):
Approximate timing before offering it:
( ) Same session ( ) Next session ( ) Several sessions later ( ) When client raises it
If the minimum is also refused
What does refusal of a minimal directive tell you clinically?
What would you do next?
( ) Reduce further — explore what is actually possible for this client right now
( ) Shift to indirect suggestion — let the client generate their own direction
( ) Address the relationship before any directive
( ) Other:
Generated with Rapport7 — rapport7.com