Tag Archives: Practicum Training

Termination Tasks

Leave a reply

I have a final session scheduled with someone I’ve seen for 6 months.  What should happen in the session to make the ending go well for the client?

therapy

This blog focuses on the tasks of termination.  If you haven’t read the previous blog on Psychotherapy Termination, you’ll find that helpful before you focus on the logistics.

The main goal of termination is to create an ending that is less traumatic than the client’s prior experiences of separation and loss and that honors the client’s way of managing loss.  The tasks of ending treatment are the same regardless of whether the ending is planned or unplanned and whether it is initiated by you or by the client.  I will discuss one way to organize the ending into three tasks: reviewing the work you have done together, discussing future circumstances when therapy could be helpful, and sharing the experience of saying goodbye.  It can be helpful to share these tasks with the client in preparation for a final session, since most clients have little experience of ending a relationship with thought and acknowledgement of the emotions surrounding the loss.

The first task is to review the therapy, with you and the client sharing your thoughts about what you have worked on together and the changes that have occurred.  When you share your perspective, it is especially meaningful to the client to hear your memories about the early sessions.  An example is “When we began working together, you were really depressed and you had a hard time imagining how you could ever feel better.  Now you seem to be enjoying your job and time with your kids and you have ways to cope with sad feelings when they come up.”  If there are issues that are still problematic or have not been a focus of your work with the client, you can acknowledge those with a statement about how the client might address them on her/his own.

Second, the end of therapy is a time to provide support and education regarding returning to treatment in the future.  People often wait until symptoms are debilitating or until their lives are seriously impaired before seeking help, and a reminder about the steps that led up to the client’s presenting symptoms and condition may help her/him seek treatment more quickly.  Also, you can talk with the client about life transitions or developmental stages that may present a risk or vulnerability.  For example, a woman who was sexually abused at age 8 is likely to experience increased anxiety and reminders of her trauma if she has daughter who reaches the age of 8.  An adolescent who loses a parent will be vulnerable to episodes of depression or other grief-related symptoms when losses and transitions occur throughout adolescence and adulthood.  You can provide encouragement for future treatment by saying “If you find your symptoms returning again, I hope you’ll seek help again.  People often find it helpful to see a therapist when times are stressful or when there are life changes that may bring up some of the issues we’ve worked on here.”

The last task is to share the experience of saying goodbye.  Many clients are avoidant of emotions related to loss, and the depth and extent of this part of your conversation about ending may be limited.  However, at minimum you can make a statement like “I want you to know that I have enjoyed getting to know you and participating in the progress you have made.  I feel some sadness in saying goodbye, and I wish you well.”  This direct expression of your feelings provides the client with a different experience of ending, even if s/he doesn’t share her/his feelings.

I hope you find this structure helpful in organizing your final session.  Please email me with comments, questions or suggestions for future blog topics.

Psychotherapy Termination

Leave a reply

therapy1I will be leaving my practicum training placement 4 months from now in the summer, and this is the first time I’ve worked with people more than 12 sessions.  Some of my clients have been coming in for more than 6 months.  How much time do clients need to end therapy?

Starting at a practical level, it is usually helpful to let clients know about your departure 4-6 weeks before the end of your work if the treatment has lasted between 4 months and a year.  Less time is generally needed if the treatment is shorter and more time if it has been longer. Anyone that begins treatment with you now should know from the beginning how long you will be able to work with them. A related question that is often unacknowledged by clinicians in training is how much time you need to end therapy with your clients.  I find that the ending process is much smoother when the clinician has spent at least a month, preferably longer, reflecting on her/his feelings about leaving clients and the placement before beginning to have conversations with clients.  Supervision, sharing with fellow clinicians and personal therapy are all places to talk about this.

All of us have personal experiences with loss and we bring those feelings and reactions to professional experiences of loss.  Even though moving to a new training placement is a move toward professional growth, you are also ending relationships that have been important in your intellectual and emotional learning.  Using self-awareness about how you approach this move will tell you a lot about the ways you are accustomed to managing grief and loss.  You may minimize the importance of this step, find fault with your current placement, become preoccupied with the welfare of your clients, focus on the logistics and required documentation, or remind yourself of the exciting opportunities ahead of you.  I encourage you instead to take time to acknowledge you are saying goodbye to people who have touched your life in unique ways.

Once you have spent some time acknowledging your own emotions about the loss of your clients, supervisor and peers, you can begin to plan your conversations with clients about ending the treatment.  The main goal of termination is to create an ending that is less traumatic than the client’s prior experiences of separation and loss and that honors the client’s way of managing loss.  Your supervisor can help you review what you know about the client’s past experiences of separation and loss and how s/he manages feelings of grief and sadness in the present.  Based on this knowledge, you will be equipped to identify what can be different in your ending with the client.  You can also develop hypotheses about how the client is likely to respond.  You can expect that some of your clients will avoid coming to the final session, and saying goodbye by telephone, email or letter may be the best possible ending for some of these clients.

I hope you have found some food for thought as you anticipate saying goodbye.  The next blog will continue on this theme with some more specific ideas about what to include in your ending process with clients.  Please email me with comments, questions or suggestions for future blog topics.

Cross-Cultural Mental Health Treatment

Leave a reply

I have just been assigned to see a client who is from a culture that is completely unfamiliar to me.  She immigrated to the U.S. three years ago and speaks English, but I’m concerned about being able to do psychotherapy with her.  How can I make sure I don’t over diagnose symptoms that may have a different cultural meaning for her than for my other clients?

therapy

It’s good that you’re aware of the importance of your client’s culture in your diagnosis and psychotherapy.  When working with a client whose culture is unfamiliar to you, I recommend doing some research into the culture to learn some basic facts about her country of origin.  If you haven’t worked with other individuals who are recent immigrants, doing research into this area will also be valuable.  However, also remember that your client is the best person to educate you about herself.  She is presenting for behavioral health treatment because she is in distress and wants help with some issues that are troubling her.  The skills you use in the first session with any client will serve you well in this situation.  In addition, you may want to ask her how her family members or friends in her country of origin would understand or interpret her symptoms to provide some cultural context for her concerns.

One way to keep the cultural context in mind when using the DSM for diagnostic purposes is to ask about events leading up to the client’s immigration and conditions since she arrived in the U.S.  It is possible that an adjustment disorder or posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis may be appropriate.  If her symptoms don’t fit either of these diagnoses, you can use an initial “not otherwise specified” or provisional diagnosis, which will note your lack of sufficient information to make a full diagnosis.  This can be changed as you learn more about her history and current life circumstances.

Another way to use the DSM as a resource for assessment is to incorporate the cultural formulation found in Appendix I of the DSM-IV and in Section III of the DSM-5.  The outline for cultural formulation includes cultural identity, cultural conceptualization of distress, psychosocial stressors and supports, and cross-cultural features of the treatment relationship.  The DSM-5 also includes a set of interview questions that can be used in assessing the cultural context of the client’s clinical presentation.

A final issue to consider in your initial assessment and ongoing psychotherapy is the cultural context of your role as a professional in the therapeutic relationship.  If you are still in training, you may not think of yourself as an expert, and many of your U.S. born clients may treat you as a peer or make comments about your status as an intern or trainee.  Many other cultures hold a value of deference to authority, however, and this may make your client reluctant to disagree with you or to express her preferences about the treatment.  In addition, recent immigrants and other cultural groups often have experiences of discrimination and misunderstanding by officials, administrators and service providers.  It can be helpful to directly express your interest in the client’s ideas, to ask open-ended rather than closed questions, and to acknowledge the extent and limitations of your knowledge.  Even so, it may take more time to develop a therapeutic alliance with this client than with clients who are from cultural backgrounds similar to yours.

I hope you find this blog helpful in working cross-culturally.  Please email me with comments, questions or suggestions for future blog topics.

Field Placement Terminology

sunset_5What’s the difference between psychotherapy, case management, mental health and behavioral health programs?

If you are new to the field of psychology, marriage and family therapy or social work, you may have questions about some of the terms that are used to describe your practicum or field placement setting. Your program may use one of the terms above or a different term to describe the type of services provided to clients.

Psychotherapy involves a relationship between a client, which could be an individual or a family, and a therapist in a private, confidential setting for a specified time, traditionally 50 minutes once a week. In psychotherapy, the therapist and client identify goals for their work together, usually related to reduction of symptoms and improvement in areas of the client’s life, which may include homework or practice outside of the session. The therapist may coordinate with other health and social service providers, but the communication is primarily between the therapist and client. There are legal regulations restricting the provision of psychotherapy to individuals who meet certain education and experience qualifications.

Case management covers a broader range of activities in which the case manager may accompany the client to appointments, contact agencies and providers to advocate for the client, arrange and facilitate the client having access to housing or other resources, and/or serve as a mentor or coach. The length and frequency of sessions is based on the client’s needs and may vary from several hours multiple times per week to less than an hour once a month. The goals are often similar to goals of psychotherapy but the client and case manager may work on other practical goals with the case manager providing direct assistance. Case managers may be paraprofessionals, clinicians in training or licensed mental health professionals.

sunrise_vert_1A mental health or behavioral health program usually provides different types or levels of service to clients. Psychotherapy and case management are often included along with assessment and evaluation, inpatient or intensive outpatient treatment, medication management, and/or psychoeducation and support groups. Services may be coordinated within a treatment team of providers with different areas of specialty and expertise. The term behavioral health has been used increasingly during the last 20 years as programs and government departments began to combine mental health services with substance abuse services. The fact that these conditions overlap in a large proportion of individuals led to the rise of integrated services provided under the label “behavioral health.”

I hope this brief summary clarifies some of your questions. Please email me with comments, suggestions or further questions.