Client Relationship

What are the ethics of carrying on with your regular practice when dealing with an ongoing personal crisis or medical emergency? Read more

Regardless of your expertise or advanced degree, client terminations can derail you at any time. So why don't we do a better job of planning for them? Read more

Ending therapy is tough. But a client leaning out of therapy midway through treatment? That’s a whole other pill to swallow. Here, six therapists share how... Read more

How to build a therapeutic relationship from the first session that keeps clients coming back. Read more

Some older people sink into states of depression, apathy, or agitated irritability, but emotional distress in this population is too often seen as part of an... Read more

Whether it's vanity, a failure to take constructive criticism, mistreating family and friends, or lacking empathy for others, clients with narcissistic traits... Read more

While grief can be a familiar creature that lives inside us, we often treat it as a stranger Read more

In this collection, master therapists share how they’ve used humor in ways that both enliven and enrich the work of therapy. Read more

Today’s culture of therapy both reflects and contributes to our nation’s ever-growing embrace of individualism—for better and, sometimes, for worse. Read more

A couples therapist is going through an emotionally wrenching separation from their partner and finding it hard to treat clients. Five clinicians offer advice. Read more

As a therapist, is it better to adapt an eclectic approach or specialize in the one you believe in most? Perhaps the answer isn’t as simple as it seems. Read more

How do you work with a client who intentionally tries to break every rule of therapy, spoken and implicit? Read more

As parts of the country start to open back up from COVID-19 lockdown measures, a therapist worries about the risk of seeing clients in person again. Five... Read more

In the midst of covid-19, therapists and clients are sharing many of the same anxieties. As a therapist, how do you talk about it? In this clip from her 2020... Read more

When a challenging clients brings out our true inner colors. Read more

In the last few weeks, as the specter of contagion has rapidly grown more ominous with each news cycle, an unthinkable professional reality has emerged for... Read more

Providing familiarity and predictability is one of our greatest tools in therapy, and can provide much-needed comfort to clients who aren't used to it... Read more

What horsemanship can teach us about making sure our clients feel seen, heard, and helped. Read more

In today’s Information Age, therapy clients are more informed—and have greater expectations up front—when it comes to the look and feel of therapy... Read more

I used to view boundaries as a fancy way of dressing up rejection, incompetence, and selfishness. But after a decade of working as a couples counselor, I've... Read more

Sara had been attending weekly therapy for three months. Her therapist thought they'd developed a strong bond, but Sara has missed her last two sessions. Her... Read more

Mark and his wife, Nicole, have been in couples therapy for almost six months. But Mark recently requested an individual session, where he revealed he recently... Read more

Often, traumatized clients find that they become dependent on their therapists to help them handle their extreme emotional states. But according to Peter... Read more

Sometimes during sessions, Jonathan checks his phone for emails or updates, even though his therapist has asked him not to. She suspects Jonathan's... Read more

Many times, when clients cry, clinicians feel an urge to rush in and “fix things” that aren’t broken, which can actually make things worse. Watch as Jay... Read more

A therapist struggles to help an obsessive client with whom she develops an unusual preoccupation. Read more

The best way to ensure clients' cooperation is to make the assignments relevant for them. Task assignments are designed to bring about changes in the... Read more

Nowadays, you see screens at checkout counters and laundromats, in restaurants and waiting rooms, and on the dashboards of cars and in their back seats. Isn't... Read more

We all want to build strong relationships with our clients, but when working with adolescents, don’t overdo the empathy, says therapist Janet Edgette... Read more

Most therapists are aware of the perils of trying to connect with teenage clients. Teens are often brought to therapy against their will by adults, which can... Read more