Not all that is planned is carried out; not everything done is planned. Appropriate implementation
requires understanding what is intended and what isn't and how to accomplish the former and avoid
the latter.
No intervener has control over all important elements involved in accomplishing intended
intervention outcomes. Indeed, interveners can affect only a relatively small segment of the physical
and social context surrounding a client. With specific respect to facilitation, however, interveners
differ in the degree to which they dominate what occurs. As portrayed in Figure 15.1, at times
highly motivated clients are able to self-select outcomes and pursue them on their own, even outside
the intervention setting. This certainly constitutes the least intervention needed and is in marked
contrast to times when the intervener selects outcomes and uses direct control techniques to
accomplish them.
Clients with different interests and problems vary in how much intervention they require. And
interveners differ significantly in their attempts to apply the principle of least intervention needed.
Therefore, interventions vary considerably in the amount and source of intervener control. In the
majority of educational and psychological settings, interveners probably select most outcomes,
which then are pursued primarily through intervener facilitation.