REACH forgiveness in couple, group, and individual psychotherapy.

Abstract

R EACH Forgiveness is an intervention that is based on stress-and-coping theory and helps people forgive. It has numerous applications for communities, including promotion of community mental health and use in churches. In addition, REACH Forgiveness is useful in private practices, especially group practices. This intervention is also useful in hospital and medical settings, drug and alcohol rehabilitation settings, university counseling settings, criminal justice settings, and even for public physical and mental health. It can be used as a systemwide intervention within a church's awareness-raising campaign, and thus is ideal to promote clergy-clinician collaboration.In this chapter, I summarize the REACH Forgiveness method and describe its development and use in individual psychotherapy, couple therapy, and group psychotherapy. I also show how it has been adapted for use in self-forgiveness, in Christian churches, and in public health applications. I present a case that shows how REACH Forgiveness is used in couple therapy that includes partner forgiveness and six steps to self-forgiveness, and I use out-of-session do-ityourself (DIY) workbooks as supplements in forgiving another and oneself. OVERVIEW OF THE INTERVENTIONREACH Forgiveness evolved from working with couples in therapy and individuals in groups rather than from a full-blown clinical protocol created theoretically. It was a collaborative effort with input from my graduate students,