Life Events

The term life events refers to any event that happens in clients’ lives, including events past, present, and future. Although theories and models of counseling do not directly address life events, extratherapeutic events can be pivotal in clients’ lives. Therefore, couples and family counselors need to recognize and incorporate clients’ life events into counseling. The common factors perspective offers a meta-perspective that encompasses counseling theory and life events. This is a meta-perspective because it places theories of counseling within a larger context. The common factors perspective posits that regardless of which theory is used in counseling, the same components are responsible for change. Although authors vary in which components contribute to change, the most common components are (a) client factors (e.g., personality, demographics, mental health, ...