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A Therapy Session Analysis

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Step -by-Step process of a therapy session. (Cully & Teten, 2008) Solid preparation is essential for an effective one hour counseling session. The counselor should review all pertinent information and have a flexible structure for each counseling session. This includes: the purpose of the counseling session, past sessions, recent observations about the client, identification of current issues, main points of discussion, and the development of a plan of action. The counselor should focus on specific and objective topics during the session and maintain a plan of action with clear, obtainable goals. Have client assess their current mood/feeling. Elicit responses concerning the client’s mood, and consider any and all discrepancies, such as change in strength or nature of usual mood, change from last week or beginning of treatment. Also ask the client to offer explanations for mood improvement or decline. This brief update allows the counselor to gauge how the client is progressing and identify positive and negative change. If medication management or physician collaboration is part of the client’s treatment, this is also an appropriate time to check for any side-effects the client might be having from medication and make adjustments as needed. Bridge discussion from previous session with the current session. In bridging …show more content…

Clients who do homework show greater improvements than those who do not. To reinforce and troubleshoot between-session learning, it is important to review homework. In session review serves two purposes: it reinforces the importance of homework and allows the counselor to assess skill acquisition. If the counselor identifies errors in homework, they can use additional session time to review the skill. Reviewing homework can take a small amount of time; or it can take the entire session, depending on what the client has learned from doing it and what difficulties they have encountered in completing

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