Called in the USA: Present Time or Attention Out

The Client may end the session with Attention Switch exercises to switch the attention away from the material worked on in the session and so to (re-)gain more free attention for the here-and-now situation.

Some examples of these simple exercises

  • doing some mental arithmetic,
  • recalling names of trees, capital cities, etc.
  • describing the physical surroundings,
  • doing some physical exercises (especially those requiring independent movement of the two halves of the body - "cross crawling").

Attention-out exercises can also be used within a session to restore balance of attention, and the practice of "new & goods" at the start of a session and workshops fall also in this category (i.e. attention-away from the distress I arrived with)

The counsellor might remind the client to do some of these Attention Switch exercises.