Self Confrontation Method (SCM)

The Self Confrontation Method, created by professor Hubert Hermans (1995), is focused on self-exploration with special attention to personal stories, feelings and basic motives (the striving for self-assertion and the longing for connection with others).

The method is a relational procedure in which client and coach work together in order to gain insight in the content and organization of the clients' personal meaning units that are part of their self-narratives.

This is done by inviting clients, on the basis of a series of open questions, to tell their most important meaning units ("valuations'') referring to their past, present, and expected future.

In the theory behind the method, a distinction is made between a manifest level that refers to the manifold variety of one's valuations as they come and go in the course of time and a latent level that refers to a limited set of basic motives that constantly influence the content and organization of the valuations on the manifest level.

A deeper insight in the organization of one's valuation system is reached when clients see which parts of their valuation system are under the influence of which basic motives.

In this way, the exaggerations, biases and lacks of the valuation system are assessed and, moreover, the way in which these features influence the general well-being of the client. This information is used by client and coach to formulate particular action plans that contribute to the further development of the valuation system as a whole.

Self - knowledge developed during in the process of self confrontation is especially usefull when clients are in a time of transition or intensive change, or when they want to make important life decisions.

This method is used in coaching for the stimulation of professional and personal development.