How professionals help clients is hypothesized to depend on whether clients assume responsibility for either problems or solutions. This paper outlines four possible models of helping and coping (based on the four possible combinations of client responsibility for problems and solutions) and applies them to understanding current practices in childbirth. Each of the models is shown to govern one or more forms of help presently offered to childbearing clients. Future research is proposed to assess why different practitioners prefer different models, and whether certain models are more effective than others in maintaining parent and infant health.