Session
in
What Helps Make the Most of Each Encounter?
Preparing for SSW improves outcomes by around 10%.
Let clients know that one session may be enough and hence you will be trying to get as much out of the session as possible. Invite the client to do the same. Reassure clients that extra sessions are available if needed. This works best if it is done at the first point of call (intake).
Prioritise and focus.
Ask and explore what your client wants from each encounter. Don't assume!
Be guided by the principle of putting the most essential goal first.
'Cut to the chase.'
Create a context for mutual honesty and directness - whilst supporting with warmth and care.
Make time your friend.
Explicitly negotiate the time available for a session and be respectfully upfront about what time is left throughout the session. This will ensure clients know what time they have left to talk about what is most important to them.
Check in to avoid therapeutic drift.
Asking if the work is on track a few times during a session is the simplest way to be responsive to clients and to avoid covering unnecessary territory.
Clinical Guidelines
Provide feedback and share your thoughts.
Clients often want to know what counsellors are thinking. Consider sharing your thoughts in a direct but tentative way.
Keep an open mind and an open door.
Approach each encounter 'as if' it may be the last - whilst being open to the possibility of ongoing work. Research suggests that in services employing a SSW approach 30-50% of clients will find one session sufficient. This also means 50% or more will want to attend more than one session.
How to Survive Single Session Work!
Aim for a 'personal fit'.
There are many ways to conduct SSW. Adapt your current skills - don't replace them. Work to your strengths and use all your skills; simply use your skills as if each session may be the last.
Remember SSW is not a single session cure.
In successful SSW, the worker and client both make the most of each session rather than solve every problem the client has. Don't try to do it all in one session.
Create a no-failure context for yourself.
Research and clinical experience indicate it is extremely difficult to predict who will only attend one session and who will attend more. Don't try to anticipate who will be suitable for a single session.
Plan for sustainability.
Take advantage of training, supervision, co-work and peer review. Encourage your organisation to develop policy and structures to maintain SSW vibrancy. Without all of these elements, your work is likely to return to previous approaches, even if clients like what you do.
Further clinical guidelines, including specific questions to try, are provided in The Bouverie Centre's training workbooks Single Session Work, Levels 1 and Level 2.
Session structure
Moshe Talmon's Step-by-Step breakdown of the SST process (London Workshop, 1996)
A Before you start
Find out what clients have accomplished on their own.
Find out who or what may serve as natural healers (eg. time, a friend).
B Opening moves
Introduce the possibility of taking care of business today.
Find out how and how soon the client expects to take care of the problem.
Rule out contraindications for SSW (eg. risk issues).
C Middle phases
Operate with a partial knowledge of client's history.
Look for a focus.
Shift from the expected exploration of past pathological events to search for strength, hope and unutilised resources and solutions.
Test potential solutions and client's motivation to accept and/or implement them.
D Late phases
Get to the bottom-line and last-minute issues with enough time to work on them.
Use time-outs and consultations.
E Concluding message
Understand the pain.
Reframe the problem.
Underline the existing resources and solutions which may help in the future.
Suggest solutions.
Leave the door open for contact in the future.
F Follow-up phone call
Book a time for the call to find out how things are going.
Session paperwork
All of the forms which are perused or used during the session can be downloaded from the Resources section of these webpages. That would be the Pre-Session Questionnaire and the SSW Summary sheets. 'Take Aways' Pads may be purchased from The Bouverie Centre, or the 'Take Aways' forms may be downloaded from Resources.
