Follow-Up Session Questions: A Structured Guide for Counselling.
The final installment of our 101 counselling questions
Introduction
Follow-up sessions in counselling play a crucial role in reinforcing progress, identifying strengths, and maintaining motivation. These questions help clients recognize positive changes, acknowledge their resilience, and explore new insights about themselves. By focusing on progress, skills, and future possibilities, these questions encourage a solution-focused mindset that enhances long-term transformation.
1. What’s been better since our last session?
- Purpose: Helps clients reflect on positive changes that have occurred since the last meeting.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Encourages awareness of progress.
- Reinforces the idea that change is possible.
- Helps identify what is working to build on future success.
2. How did you do that?
- Purpose: Encourages clients to recognise their role in creating positive change.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Strengthens a sense of personal agency.
- Highlights strategies and coping mechanisms that worked.
- Builds self-confidence in their ability to manage challenges.
3. How did you hold on to enough hope for change and come back to therapy, even though things got worse?
- Purpose: Helps clients explore resilience and the importance of persistence.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Reinforces self-motivation and commitment to change.
- Identifies underlying sources of strength.
- Helps reframe setbacks as part of the journey.
4. What skills did you draw upon to make those changes since our last session?
- Purpose: Identifies personal strengths that contributed to progress.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Highlights useful coping mechanisms.
- Encourages clients to consciously use these skills in future challenges.
- Reinforces self-efficacy and problem-solving abilities.
5. What areas of your life got better other than the one we discussed in our last session?
- Purpose: Encourages clients to recognise broader improvements.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Promotes holistic growth awareness.
- Helps identify unexpected benefits of their efforts.
- Builds momentum for continued change.
6. What role did you play in things getting better since we last met?
- Purpose: Encourages self-reflection on personal impact.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Strengthens personal accountability.
- Reinforces a growth-oriented mindset.
- Helps identify reproducible actions for further improvement.
7. What role did others play?
- Purpose: Encourages clients to recognise support systems.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Highlights the importance of relationships.
- Encourages seeking social support when needed.
- Helps identify helpful versus unhelpful influences.
8. What are your best hopes for this session?
- Purpose: Establishes clear intentions for the current meeting.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Guides the session toward client-driven goals.
- Encourages self-directed progress.
- Provides a focused agenda for effective use of time.
9. What have you learned about yourself that you could not have learned in any other way?
- Purpose: Encourages deep self-reflection and insight.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Helps clients recognize hidden strengths.
- Builds self-awareness and emotional intelligence.
- Encourages a growth mindset.
10. What are you learning about your ability, especially since things haven’t gotten better yet?
- Purpose: Encourages resilience and persistence even in difficult times.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Reinforces self-compassion and patience.
- Highlights coping mechanisms that sustain hope.
- Encourages clients to stay engaged in the process.
11. What skills/characteristics are you having to draw on while managing these difficult things?
- Purpose: Encourages recognition of personal strengths.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Reinforces self-reliance and problem-solving.
- Helps clients appreciate their resilience and adaptability.
- Builds confidence in overcoming future challenges.
12. What traits have you used to make such a big difference?
- Purpose: Reinforces positive self-perception.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Strengthens identity as a capable individual.
- Encourages further use of successful traits.
- Boosts self-esteem and motivation.
13. If this was the point that things started to improve, what would be the first thing you would notice?
- Purpose: Helps clients visualize positive change.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Encourages hope and optimism.
- Provides a clear vision of progress.
- Establishes early indicators of success.
14. What does that progress do to your thoughts about the future?
- Purpose: Encourages clients to connect small progress to bigger possibilities.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Helps shift focus toward long-term success.
- Encourages a positive outlook.
- Builds confidence in sustained change.
15. If you knew that the changes you are experiencing were only going to continue, what difference would that make to you?
- Purpose: Reinforces momentum and motivation.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Strengthens belief in long-term success.
- Encourages clients to commit to further progress.
- Helps reinforce self-efficacy and determination.
16. Was this change a big surprise or a little surprise?
- Purpose: Encourages reflection on expectations and self-perception.
- Expected Outcomes:
- Helps clients understand their own adaptability.
- Encourages a sense of achievement.
- Reinforces that progress—big or small—is valuable.
Key Takeaways
Follow-up sessions help clients:
✅ Recognise progress and resilience.
✅ Identify effective strategies for continued growth.
✅ Stay motivated and engaged in therapy.
✅ Develop a future-oriented mindset.
✅ Reinforce personal strengths and support networks.
By consistently using these follow-up questions, counsellors can empower clients to track their progress, build confidence, and sustain motivation on their journey toward lasting change.
Please note this blog is written in British English!
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© Richard J Kirk, writing as Joseph R Mason – 2025. If you want to know why, see:
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