Another distinguishing feature of Bowen's model is its validity in working with a single adult.

The term 'coaching' describes the work of the therapist giving input and support for adult clients who are attempting to develop greater differentiation in their families of origin.  Clients should feel in charge of their own change efforts, with the therapist acting as a consultant.  Bowen thought that a person's efforts to be more differentiated would be more productive when the focus shifted away from the intensity of the nuclear family to the previous generation.

The emphasis is on self-directed efforts to detriangle from family of origin patterns.

An individual's efforts can modify a triangle, which in turn ripples through to change in the whole extended family.

Bowen described 'coaching' as 'family psychotherapy with one family member' (Bowen, 1971 in Bowen, 1978: 233).  This therapy takes on the flavour of teaching, as clients learn about the predicable patterns of triangles.

The therapist supports their efforts in returning to their families to observe and learn about these patterns.

Clients practise controlling their emotional reactivity in their family and report their struggles and progress in following sessions.

During family of origin coaching, clients use letters, telephone calls, visits and research about previous generations to gain a systemic perspective on their family's emotional processes and a sense of their own inheritance of these patterns.  The therapist prepares clients for the anxiety they will encounter if they shift from their customary roles in their families of origin.  Any such changes will inevitably disturb the predictable balance of family patterns and therefore heighten anxiety and resistance.

Bowen (1978) emphasised that it is what happens in step 'c' that really determines whether change occurs.