An ecology check is simply checking to see if the desired result of a technique will work out in other areas of a person’s life.

Doing an ecology check is checking the consequences of your future actions and plans.

This is thinking in terms of what happens after you make a desired change. How does it affect a person’s home, their family, their finances, health, time, etc.? Is it in line with their value system? Is this what they really want?

It prevents self-sabotage by making sure a change will be acceptable to all parts. You can even apply this ecological approach to multiple systems, such those in politics.

When you think “ecologically,” you are taking every aspect of your outcome into account. You check to make sure that you are not going to achieve X at the expense of Y, if both are important to you. For example, an Ecology Check needs to be in place when you help a client to stop smoking, because fear of weight gain may sabotage your work. You want to make sure that your client is completely congruent (has no unconscious resistance) about the upcoming change.