The Place of Single Session Family Consultations: Five Years’ Experience in Canberra

Abstract

Open Day, in the form of two half day single session family clinics, has operated weekly in the ACT Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service since April 1993 and over a thousand families have been seen. Clinicians are often resistant to the concept of single sessions and frequently overestimate the amount of assistance that clients feel they require. However in an era of sharply increasing demand for services, selective use of single family sessions for milder problems, screened by a telephone intake process, has value to both families and workers. Telephone follow‐ups of 100 families in 1994 and 70 families in 1996 found that single session family interviews were well accepted by the large majority of families seen. Clinicians see the program as reducing pressure from clients for early attention, enhancing client motivation when seen at crisis times, providing readily available consultation support from peers, increasing learning opportunities and building inter‐disciplinary team work.

Walk-In Single-Session Therapy: Client Satisfaction and Clinical Outcomes

“…The high client satisfaction with this service is comparable to that of other follow-up studies on SST (e.g., Boyhan, 1996;Hampson et al, 1999;Price, 1994) as is its maintenance at 1-month follow-up (Perkins, 2006). Greater satisfaction was obtained on the access and office procedures scale, suggesting that clients are pleased with being able to be seen at a time that works best for them.…”

“…Also, at the Bouverie Center, Boyhan (1996) contacted 36 families at 1 week and 2 months after a booked SST; 53% attended only one session. When families seen at a child and adolescent mental health service were contacted to complete a telephone survey, 47% reported one session to be sufficient (Hampson et al, 1999). Likewise, Perkins and Scarlett (2008) deemed only 40% of their sample (N = 258) to be in need of one or more additional sessions.…”

“…Similarly, Boyhan (1996) noted that clients' rating of helpfulness was best explained by their perception of therapists' listening and understanding. Hampson et al (1999) have also attempted to identify client groups that may most benefit from SST. They observed a link between less severe problems and better outcomes at 3-month follow-up.…”

“…At the end of the session, clients may be provided with information about community resources or linked to crisis/urgent services. Even though SST is conceptualized to be a complete intervention process, it is believed that clients may benefit from attending more than one SST and are thus invited to return as needed (Campbell, 1999;Hampson et al, 1999). Additionally, because clients are not likely to see the same therapist if they return, we encourage the client to engage with the program rather than a particular therapist (Miller & Slive, 1994).…”

A perspective on consultancy teams and technology in applied sport psychology

“…As SST approaches grow in popularity, more organizations or specific therapy centers with a particular focus on SST have written about the central features of their works (e.g., Fry, 2012;Slive & Bobele, 2012). Although the psychotherapeutic techniques involved are often different from one another (Young, Dick, Herring, & Lee, 2008), a common feature amongst many of these approaches is the use of consultancy teams behind one-way mirrors or one-way screens (Bobele et al, 2008;Fry, 2012;Hampson, O'Hanlon, Franklin, Pentony, Fridgant, & Heins, 1999;Harper-Jaques, McElheran, Slive, & Leahey, 2008;Slive et al, 2008). More often than not, these teams work in a similar manner to each other, utilizing one primary therapist supported by a team of observing therapists.…”