How do I prepare for a Consultation?
Once you have made an appointment for Consultation, here are some general guidelines for preparing to make the most out of the consult time:
- Have the case you want to work on picked out ahead of time.
- Include the client’s age, gender and/or gender identification, race/ethnicity, current living situation (i.e., married/single, family/alone), current job, and how long you have been seeing them.
- Include the client’s primary complaint (i.e., their reason for seeking therapy).
- Include a basic outline of the client’s family history and trauma history.
- If you have seen the client for some time, what interventions have you have tried?
- What has worked well? What has not worked well?
- Include anything that stands out to you about the case that you think I should know about? (For example: Are you having strong countertransference? Is there a big symptom or pattern that the client doesn’t talk about but is obvious to you? Is there a piece of the client’s history that stands out and seems particularly important to you?
- Include your primary question for me. (For example: How do I make sense of the client’s presentation/symptoms?; I’m stuck—the client’s symptoms are not changing; What do I do now?; etc…).
- If you are newly trained in EMDR, include your client’s Top 10 Best & Top 10 Worst Experiences lists (with ages and SUDS levels (0-10)).
NOTE: if you are in a Consultation Group, there is no requirement to present a case.