While one cannot assume Glasser (1965) had student-athletes in mind when he proposed Reality Therapy, he did intend for this cognitive behavioral counseling approach to have broad application in educational settings. Teachers, mentors, and advisers have demonstrated and adopted the Reality Therapy approach in leading their students to do quality work (Howatt, 2001). In an educational context addressing student responsibility for academic success and failure, Spann and Vandett (1982) showed how Glasser's approach could be used with college students. Working with athletes, Acevedo (1994) found that Reality Therapy provides a useful framework for psychological skills training. Working with professionals, Claps et al. (2005) showed how Reality Therapy can be applied to wellness coaching. Mentors and advisers to student-athletes will appreciate the structure and lucid methodology of applied Reality Therapy as they work with student-athletes, encouraging them to take control of their behaviors and their lives.
The components of Reality Therapy present a procedural context for Reality Counseling that promotes self-regulation and behaviors consistent with self-control, self-efficacy, and self-determination. Choice Theory (Glasser, 1998), which evolved from Control Theory (Glasser, 1985), is the broad conceptual framework of Glasser's basic premise that all behavior is purposeful and originates from within oneself in an effort to fulfill one's basic needs and wants. What student-athlete mentors find so attractive with this premise is that it accurately characterizes the mindset of typical athletes who identify themselves as self-driven, self-confident, and self-directed and who collectively display an experiential history of behavior assessment, personal choice, and commitment to change. Successful student-athletes have developed an understanding of themselves in terms of strengths and weaknesses, which they utilize when developing strategies to meet the demands of their changing environments.
Reality Counseling imposes on student-athletes a “hardball” approach where, in the counseling process, a specifically chosen behavior or action plan, once identified, must be followed by an assessment step to identify consequences and make subsequent value judgments regarding the efficacy of that chosen behavior. Implicit in this approach is the notion that individuals choose their behaviors and are fully accountable and responsible for their choices. More importantly, by accepting this approach the student-athlete recognizes behavior change is possible and realizes successful behavior choices are self-directed, provided responsibility is accepted.
Reality Counseling and Choice Theory display similarities and congruence with Ellis's rational-emotive behavioral theory where internal locus of control is equivalent to center focus, and Adlerian psychology, which advances the theory that people want to fit in with their social peers and be accepted (Howatt, 2001). In an applied counseling context, student-athletes are led to view a current situation as a by-product of their perceptions and behaviors and to ascertain whether the situation represents their wants and their best effort to achieve those wants. Although Weinberg and Williams (2006) point out that research-based evidence of psychological skills training programs with athletes is limited (similarly, counseling psychologists have trouble demonstrating that what they do makes a difference in the well-being and behavior of their clients), anecdotal evidence suggests that conducting interventions within the framework of Reality Counseling has positive outcomes.
An essential first step for successful Reality Counseling is to establish the counseling environment in a familiar and comfortable location (Glasser, 1985). The physical setting will help demonstrate the counselor's empathy, congruence, and genuine regard for the client. For mentors of student-athletes, counseling sessions might be located in the institution's athletic facilities, provided appropriate discretion can be maintained. Using wireless laptop computers, mentors can readily access academic information and present visual models to enhance their advice.
The active process of Reality Counseling invites the student-athlete to participate fully in (1) establishing a counseling framework, (2) undertaking a reality-based assessment of self-disclosure and current behavior, (3) devising strategies and action plans that will lead to behavior change, and (4) committing to the action plans and follow up. Figure 1 illustrates the mentor's role in active Reality Counseling.
The mentor's practice of counseling with Reality Therapy, as based on Choice Theory, uses a theoretical framework congruent with coaching models. Coaches facilitate change in an athlete's performance by leading the athlete through instruction and practice and placing him or her in control of self-improvement. Whereas traditional academic support models might cater to the extended demands on student-athletes by simply accommodating their time and organization schedules, Reality Counseling is no-nonsense, straight forward, and accepts no excuses. Again, emphasis is placed on the student-athlete's efforts to account for current behavior and cultivate personal responsibility in making and carrying out action plans for achieving a desired change. The following discourse illustrates active Reality Counseling in a hypothetical mentoring session (Claps et al., 2005).
Mentor: Hi Jane, I'm glad you chose to make the time to see me and talk about things. What did you want to see me about?
Jane: Well, the problem I'm having in a couple of classes isn't getting any better and before it gets any worse I was hoping you could help me.
Mentor: That's a good place to start, recognizing the need to get ahead of a problem before it gets too big. How do you see me helping you?
Jane: I was hoping you could help me drop a class and pick up something else to replace it.
Mentor: Well, I certainly can help you understand the process of adding and dropping classes, but my role here is to help you develop your thinking and decision-making skills to support the actions you will take and help you stick with them. Really, you are in charge and responsible for deciding what you want to do and how to do it. Does that sound right to you?
Jane: I think I already know what to do but I'm not quite sure how to do it?
Mentor: That's a good start because it tells me you've been thinking about this issue for a while. Tell me what you really want.
Jane: I need to be sure I stay eligible to play, and yet I don't want to fall behind in my major, and of course don't want to fall behind further in my classes and get a poor grade.
Mentor: Again, you size up your goals well, but first let's make sure you have set some good goals for yourself. Are you able to do the work in the courses you are taking and are you motivated to do well?
Jane: Yes, I'm thinking I can do the work but neither course is really meaningful, so I don't spend a lot of time studying or paying attention in class.
Mentor: Okay, I heard you say you could do the work if it were more meaningful and if you spent more time studying and paying attention in class. Is that true, and are you doing okay in your other courses?
Jane: Yes, I'm fine in the other courses, but in these two I just don't look forward to trying hard.
Mentor: Tell me what things you do in your other courses that are different from what you are doing in these?
Jane: Well, for one I sometimes don't even go to class and, when I do, rarely have I read or prepared for it, so I tend to sit in the back and not get involved.
Mentor: If you could picture yourself doing exactly the same in all your classes and doing equally well in all of them, how would your semester be different?
Jane: A lot different, less stress, more relaxed, maybe better able to enjoy myself in other things, including sports.
Mentor: Super! That's got to feel good. So, how could you make what's happening in the two troublesome classes the same as what's happening in the others?
Jane: I would be planning more time to prepare and participating more.
Mentor: Right! How do you spend time preparing for those classes? How much? How often?
Jane: Really, just before class, if I feel like it, I look at the textbook. If there's a quiz or a test, I might actually look at what notes I took.
Mentor: How is that different from the other classes and the way you prepare for those?
Jane: Well, it's fair to say for those I always read the assignments and ask questions.
Mentor: What do you think about that strategy for doing well in those courses?
Jane: It helps a lot and, of course, I feel less anxious and worry less about how I'm doing.
Mentor: Well, what stands in the way of doing the same for the troublesome courses?
Jane: It has a lot to do with my attitude first of all and, secondly, the lack of time I give them.
Mentor: If you remember how sport practice isn't always fun but you work through it and if you can take that attitude into the troublesome classes, could you figure out what you might do differently for them?
Jane: Well, if I could just find them more interesting, it would help me in giving them more time.
Mentor: Remember the payoff isn't always immediate, like practice, and your bigger goal is to keep good grades to stay eligible and graduate on time. So keeping that in mind, how do you ramp up your effort and change your behavior?
Jane: I could make equal time happen and force myself to participate in class more.
Mentor: That's a good start. Anything else?
Jane: I suppose I could study with other students in class and maybe see the professor.
Mentor: Another good idea. How do you make that happen?
Jane: I need to ask them.
Mentor: Does anything stand in the way of you doing these things?
Jane: Not really. I know the other students and can speak with the professor after class.
Mentor: Well, is there something more important than making that happen?
Jane: Not really, just finding time.
Mentor: In the next day or two, what could you do to make this happen?
Jane: I could speak to those students tonight and the professor tomorrow.
Mentor: What might you say to them?
Jane: I might have to convince the students it's a good idea to study together, and I guess I just have to be honest with the professor and ask for help.
Mentor: This sounds like a plan. Are you sure you will do it? This plan could make all the difference between dropping courses and getting further behind, and it would go a long way toward taking that stress and worry out of your life.
Jane: Yes, I'll head from here to meet with the other students, and I might even try calling the professor tonight and follow up with him after class tomorrow.
Mentor: That's great. How about getting back to me later in the week for an update?
Jane: I could do that, say, Friday?
Mentor: Sure. How do you feel about this meeting and your action plan?
Jane: It's a good start and a lot different from what I thought was going to happen ... but I like the idea of thinking of it like sport practice and how it helps me to commit.
In Reality Counseling, the mentor's focus of questioning, assessing, and planning is on current behavior, beginning from the first meeting to getting involved and presenting a genuine active interest and concern for the student-athlete. Developing an authentic relationship with the student-athlete is paramount to the mentor's ability to establish a helping relationship, and responsible involvement will motivate the student-athlete to change and accept responsibility for his or her behavior. Throughout the helping relationship of Reality Counseling, a series of standard questions have been designed to elicit a well-defined action plan to improve a situation and keep the client committed. For counseling the student-athlete, appropriate questions from Howatt (2001) include: “What do you want or what do you really want? What are you doing? What is your plan? What will happen if you continue to do what you are doing?” Additional questions from Claps et al. (2005) include: “What do we do that helps you most? What obstacles limit the progress you want to make? What is missing from your program that you would like to include? How did you do in reaching your goals? Do you think it is time to set new goals?”
Reality Counseling is intended to be both direct and supportive. Directness is a feature of the mentor sharing his or her perceptions of the student-athlete's behavior, and support is implicit in focusing on present activity and planning for future change while avoiding examination (and associated guilt) of the past and intervention that is overly focused on feelings instead of action. Student-athletes already rely on direct coaching and training programs that stress intrinsic motivators, personal visions and goals, and various discipline strategies. Because of their experience with coaching, student-athletes are predisposed to work out ways to enhance their performance and commit to plans that will make the changes happen. As student-athletes, they have learned not only how external situations may be outside their control, but also how their perceptions and choices in response to situations are always within their control. Mentors using Reality Counseling can help lead student-athletes to take charge of their well-being by accepting that they are also in control of their behaviors and they can make choices to learn new ways to improve their present circumstances.