A310 Putting Clients First: A Revolution in Clinical Effectiveness

Fifty years of therapy outcome research shows that positive change doesn't result from focusing on disorder, disease or dysfunction. Change is spurred by what's right with people--their resources, creativity, and relational support networks--not the labels they carry or even the techniques employed by professional helpers. In this course, you'll learn practical approaches for harvesting client strengths and developing the kind of collaborative alliance with them that forms the core of effective psychotherapy. You'll also learn how asking clients to complete a simple feedback form at the beginning and end of each session can enhance that alliance and improve therapy outcomes by a remarkable 65 percent. You'll come away with clear guidelines for implementing a culture of client feedback that can have a revolutionary effect on your practice.

Meet The Instructor

Barry Duncan, Psy.D., is the co-director of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change and author of 13 books, including The Heroic Client and his new self-help book, What's Right With You.

Course Contents

Session 1: What Works in Therapy • The pitfalls of the Killer D's (disorder, dysfunction, disease, disability, diagnosis) • The battle of the brands: The dodo bird verdict still stands • The four factors of change

Session 2: The Heroic Client • Casting the client in heroic roles • Listening for the whole story • Questions that evoke heroic stories

Session 3: The nature of change in therapy • Capitalizing on chance events • Listening for a change

Session 4: Reliance on the alliance • Components of the alliance • Translating the research about the power of the relationship into practice • Validation

Session 5: The Client's Theory of Change • Why use the client's pre-existing ideas about change? Because it works • Learning the client's theory • Honoring the client's theory

Session 6: One Client at a Time • How do you know you are effective? • Becoming outcome-informed • Using alliance and outcome feedback to improve effectiveness

Learning Objectives

1. Identify the four factors that account for change in therapy
2. Analyze the pitfalls of diagnosis and a deficit based view of clients
3. Identify three ways to recruit the client's innate resources and natural resilience
4. Formulate effective strategies from the client's ideas about their concerns