Tip #1 Be active and engaged with your clients.
While careful listening, reflection, and even silence are an important part of the therapy process, clients report they are helped most by therapists who are active, lively and engaged. How would you describe your therapeutic style? Does your body language and comments help you connect with your clients? Do you prescribe therapeutic homework and follow-up with appropriate discussions? Do use humor in your therapeutic work? Do you exude confidence?
If you are not sure about how you come across to your clients, you might consider getting permission from a few clients to video a session and then review it with an eye towards your therapeutic style. If you are in a supervision group, this would be a great place to get feedback.
Tip #2 Help clients identify others who can support their change.
As a therapist or counselor, you are a primary change agent in the lives of your clients, but other people are important as well. Studies suggest that clients who have identified people in their lives who can support their therapeutic change tend to report better outcomes. The tool How Do You Want To Be Treated? can help clients identify people who can support their efforts in therapy.
Tip #3 Integrate therapy assignments with a client's treatment.
When we interviewed people about what they liked or didn't like in their therapy, one of the most common complaints was about therapists who gave out therapeutic homework assignments and yet never followed up on them. When you don't follow-up on therapeutic assignments, you give your clients the impression that you are not thinking carefully about their treatment or, even worse, you are not really paying attention to the treatment plan. It is recommended that therapists review therapy assignments at the beginning of each session. Some therapists ask clients to email the assignments to them before the session. When assignments are not completed, the reasons should be discussed with the client and issues regarding motivation and/or the usefulness of the assignment should be discussed. The Therapy Assignment Log may be useful in motivating clients to complete assignments and can also be used to give feedback to the therapist about the success of the assignments in achieving the stated therapeutic goals.
While careful listening, reflection, and even silence are an important part of the therapy process, clients report they are helped most by therapists who are active, lively and engaged. How would you describe your therapeutic style? Does your body language and comments help you connect with your clients? Do you prescribe therapeutic homework and follow-up with appropriate discussions? Do use humor in your therapeutic work? Do you exude confidence?
If you are not sure about how you come across to your clients, you might consider getting permission from a few clients to video a session and then review it with an eye towards your therapeutic style. If you are in a supervision group, this would be a great place to get feedback.
Tip #2 Help clients identify others who can support their change.
As a therapist or counselor, you are a primary change agent in the lives of your clients, but other people are important as well. Studies suggest that clients who have identified people in their lives who can support their therapeutic change tend to report better outcomes. The tool How Do You Want To Be Treated? can help clients identify people who can support their efforts in therapy.
Tip #3 Integrate therapy assignments with a client's treatment.
When we interviewed people about what they liked or didn't like in their therapy, one of the most common complaints was about therapists who gave out therapeutic homework assignments and yet never followed up on them. When you don't follow-up on therapeutic assignments, you give your clients the impression that you are not thinking carefully about their treatment or, even worse, you are not really paying attention to the treatment plan. It is recommended that therapists review therapy assignments at the beginning of each session. Some therapists ask clients to email the assignments to them before the session. When assignments are not completed, the reasons should be discussed with the client and issues regarding motivation and/or the usefulness of the assignment should be discussed. The Therapy Assignment Log may be useful in motivating clients to complete assignments and can also be used to give feedback to the therapist about the success of the assignments in achieving the stated therapeutic goals.
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