How To Prepare For Therapy Sessions
Whether it is busy lives, challenges with attention-focus, lack of experience in treatment, or a host of other issues, one of the most common issues clients have is knowing how to prepare for their therapy sessions. It is not uncommon for clients in a session to make one of several statements: ‘I had some things to talk about but I cannot remember,’ ‘I am struggling with X, but I can’t think of any examples,’ ‘I forgot we had a session,’ ‘I meant to do the homework but forgot what it was…,’ etc.,. In my experience, clients can benefit from several concepts and tools that can help them be prepared.
One of the more important recommendations, Michael makes for his adolescent and adult clients (and the parent’s of child clients) is to create a therapy kit which consists of several things:
Know What You Want To Talk About…
When you begin a session, Michael tends to begin with some simple check-in questions such as “How are a you doing?,” “What have you been up to?,” or will check-in with areas of your life “How’s life with family?,” “How’s school (or work)?,” “How are things with your (wife, children, parents, siblings, etc.,)?”
Clients should be prepared to answer these basic questions and to mention any challenges, crisis, positive experiences, successes with coping skills and problem solving strategies, and so on. It is also important for a client to know that they can mention any crisis or important issues that should be addressed in the session. Consequently, Michael recommends that clients take a few minutes the night before or 20-30 minutes before the session to think about events between sessions and topics to be covered in the session.
In the case of younger clients, parents can ask them what they want to talk about in their session and provide some ideas or a written note so these clients are better prepared. When a younger client says, “I can’t remember” it may simply mean – you caught me by surprise and their mind is a blank. In this cases, Michael recommends encouraging them to say “I don’t know, but give me a moment to think about it” which gives them a chance to think.
Therapy Notebook (Spiral Bound)
Therapy Notebook is simply a spiral bound notebook that you can get at any number of stores. It is one of the more helpful tools many of my clients use to write down things that they need or want to remember. In session, clients make notes about some of the critical concepts we cover, helpful statements that a client can say to themselves or when interacting with family or friends, and/or homework assignments such pages assigned in a workbook, goals and plans of action to be taken between sessions, and so on. Outside of the session, client’s can use the notebook for assignment reminders, jotting down events or things they want to remember for the next sessions, journaling emotions and thoughts, and as a reference for the things discussed one more more sessions ago.
With regard to the kind of spiral bound notebook, most notebooks will do though I would consider a thinner single subject notebook, college ruled, and ideally with a pocket to contain print-outs. For example:
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An operational working definition of mindfulness is: the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment by moment. —Jon Kabat-Zinn (2003)
Mindfulness, also known as meditation, is a valuable skill that has been taught for thousands of years in many of the world’s religions, including Christianity (Merton, 1960), Judaism (Pinson, 2004), Buddhism (Rahula, 1974), and Islam (Inayat Khan, 2000). Beginning in the 1980s, Jon Kabat-Zinn began using nonreligious mindfulness skills to help hospital patients cope with chronic pain problems (Kabat-Zinn, 1982; Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, & Burney, 1985; Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, Burney, & Sellers, 1987). More recently, similar mindfulness techniques were also integrated into other forms of psychotherapy (Segal, Williams, & Teasdale, 2002), including dialectical behavior therapy (Linehan, 1993a). Studies have shown mindfulness skills to be effective at reducing the odds of having another major depressive episode (Teasdale et al., 2000); reducing symptoms of anxiety (Kabat-Zinn et al., 1992); reducing chronic pain (Kabat-Zinn et al., 1985; Kabat-Zinn et al., 1987); decreasing binge eating (Kristeller & Hallett, 1999); increasing tolerance of distressingsituations; increasing relaxation; and increasing skills to cope with difficult situations (Baer, 2003).
As a result of findings like these, mindfulness is considered one of the most important core skills in dialectical behavior therapy (Linehan, 1993a). So what exactly is mindfulness? One definition is offered above by mindfulness researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn. But for the purposes of this book, mindfulness is the ability to be aware of your thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and actions—in the present moment—without judging or criticizing yourself or your experience. Have you ever heard the expressions “be in the moment” or “be here now”? These are both different ways of saying: “be mindful of what’s happening to you.” But this isn’t always an easy task. At any moment in time, you might be thinking, feeling, sensing, and doing many different things.