Change in psychotherapy is a gradual process with predictable stages which can be understood and prepared for. Integrating new perspectives and behaviors requires attention to the needs of each of three phases: support, accommodation, and assimilation. These stages will be defined and demonstrated in work with volunteer workshop participants.
This approach is a short-term, focused psychotherapy that uses clear contracts for change, respect for the autonomy of the client, imaginative games, effective self-reparenting, and client redecision. Emphasized will be freeing the client from early "stuck" spots. Lecture, case presentation, and large-group exercises.
An introduction to the brief therapy techniques developed at Mental Research Institute; sound and videotaped examples of such interventions from actual therapy sessions.