The Art of the First Session: Making Psychotherapy Count From the Start

The average client today only comes to therapy five to eight times and many only come once, so it is increasingly important, therefore, for therapists to achieve first-session success. Therapeutic skills and sales and marketing savvy are equally important to this task. In the first sixty minutes, clinicians must build trust, communicate what they have to offer and ensure that the client feels different walking out to how they felt when they walked in. Short, practical and applicable to all therapeutic modalities, this book walks readers through all the first-session essentials, including preparation for the first session, action-steps for each stage of the session, techniques for changing the emotional climate and "closing the deal" to make sure that clients come back for more. Packed with case examples, vignettes, tools and techniques, The Art of the First Session prepares clinicians with critical skills to cut through performance anxiety, feel and convey confidence with clients and hit the ground running in therapy with new clients.