Intakes & First Sessions

What’s the goal of the first session? To have a second session. This seminar will help you do that better.

Early sessions are about figuring out what information we need in order to understand this client — and collecting it effectively. Depending on the answers we get, we generate new questions and a tentative treatment plan on the run. We must provide the reflection, challenges, and relationship the client or couple seems to need — all without scaring them away.

In his uniquely entertaining way, Marty will discuss:

• Key information to collect and how to evaluate it
• The structure of therapeutic questions & interventions
• What is “resistance”? How should we handle it?
• What is the patient’s “narrative”? Why must we assess it?
• How does our clinical vocabulary affect clients?
• Why we shouldn’t let clients tell us their “problems” — and what we should do instead
• Therapists’ assumptions about emotional health that undermine the information-gathering process.

This practical seminar will help you create that elusive “therapeutic alliance” every clinician wants so much. Whether you’re a new therapist or a veteran, this seminar will help you have more second sessions — and you’ll be laughing while you learn!