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Barry's Corner


February 2009

I get asked all the time about the deal with CMHS having this eight session limit thing? It is a good question and gets at the very heart of how CMHS defines itself and the services we provide the UConn campus. CMHS provides a model that is very common across university and college counseling centers in this country and it is what we call “brief model therapy.” This model goes by all sorts of other clever names such as “solution focused therapy” or “time-limited therapy.” The main deal with this model is that we see students for what really does add up to a substantial amount of service and is more than what is typically available out in the community (So, come get it while you can). It is brief model then and we no longer publish a numerical session limit. We do say, though that the work we will do with you comes with well thought out, decent, and helpful limits. We find that while there is no magic in the actual quantity of time, there is something to be said in defining the time and making good, planful use of the time. So, I am suggesting that we all get a lot less hung up on the number of sessions and a lot more hung up on what we are doing with the time. CMHS, like other counseling centers across the great U.S. of A sees students, on average for about six sessions every time a student comes in. Six. Just six. Did you hear that, just six. Did I mention it was six? Yup, six. So, even with what use to be our eight session limit, students were not averaging that many sessions. Even without us setting a time limit, students are already naturally engaging in brief therapy.

Brief therapy. Can we chat briefly about what just in the heck it is? First off, it is one of those treatment approaches that respond not only to the fiscal realities we live in, but also responds well to the research findings that most folks make the majority of their progress at the beginning of their time in therapy. Second off, it means we are going to meet with you, assess what is going on for you, develop a limited number of circumscribed goals, and get to work with you to better your situation related to these goals. Last off, it means we will work on that with you and then send you on your way with the offer for you to come back to CMHS the next time you have difficulty within the original presenting concern or with something entirely different. Kinda like you going to the dentist when you have a cavity. The dentist takes care of the cavity, works with you to stay out of cavity trouble again, and tells you to come back in preventively as well as when you have trouble again. We do pretty much the same model.

The other issue we think about all the time is how to give as much service as we can to as many folks as we can. So, this means that if we gave endless and bottomless service we would be providing such services to a lot fewer folks. We gotta strike a balance, you know.

So, bringing this all to a big crescendo finish: CMHS has been quite thoughtful in setting its therapy model. It is a model which respects the current market and what students already do on average, allows us to be most impactful therapeutically, and allows us to give as much service as we can to as many folks as possible. It sounds pretty awesome when we lay out like this, doesn’t it. There’s a good reason for it seeming the way it does. And that is because it works and works well! That, in a nutshell is our therapy model and why it is the way it is. Like it? Hate it? We welcome your comments and you can always reach me with comments, questions, or if you just want to send us a complaint or a compliment. Reach me at barry@uconn.edu. Cheers!

 
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