adolescent psychotherapy homework planner pdf

adolescent psychotherapy homework planner pdf

The Importance of Adolescent Psychotherapy Homework Planner

1. Introduction

There are several studies that have taken into account the therapy planner’s effectiveness. In this study, three clinicians managed an open clinical trial with 41 therapists and 400 of their clients, considering six popular planners for homework planning, and one average free form planner defined by the authors. 2818 clients provided information such as age, pre-test and post-test results, and evaluators as post-test. There were no significant differences between the standard planners’ effectiveness compared to overall free form planners, apart from the therapist’s choice of more difficult clients, like those in a terminal phase, for which standard planners provide worse performances.

The idea behind a psychotherapy homework planner involves providing the client with suggestions for practices or actions to be carried out between therapy sessions. The goals of having therapy homework consist of strengthening knowledge, awareness, and exploration of oneself, enhancing the therapeutic process, and potentially achieving faster relief from symptoms. The implementation of homework is, in fact, a red flag for subjects in which applied research in psychotherapy has demonstrated significant progress in regards to effectiveness and which consequently have become manualized or protocolized interventions. This is actually the case of a number of procedures, subject to reviews which have the side effect of standardizing approaches in common psychopathological conditions. A possible effect of this trend could be that therapists may end up losing the capacity to practice general empathetic in-depth work due to the inadequacy to approach clients with different pathologies with a homogeneous standard that can meet everyone’s needs.

2. Benefits of Using the Adolescent Psychotherapy Homework Planner

Indeed, in addition to different therapy orientations and patient therapy status, flexible integration is recognized as one of the APHP’s main assets. It is also considered a strong selling point to counselors and psychologists for various categories of child and/or psychiatric problems. In keeping with the cognitive-behavioral tradition of the CBST manuals, decision-making and clinical judgment are necessarily emphasized (i.e., flexibility and scrutiny in deciding what homework to assign following initial, bilateral, interactions). Professionals should take into consideration, for example, that patients for whom English is not the first language may still be less responsive to traditional cognitive and/or behavioral tasks. In any case, CBT group therapy (CBT-GT) in group homes has been noted for providing efficiency with juvenile sex offenders who typically share a more emotional, stimulating environment. Common challenges arising from issues related to cognitive learning, such as executive functioning deficits, are explored.

Butman emphasized the importance of homework: it shifts responsibility to patients, and, as fantasy can be very different from what is, it enables therapists to check these differences. Moreover, it also is a good way to reveal avoidance, help patients practice, and separate the curious from the committed. Advantages of using a tool such as the APHP include: (a) conveying a professional impression with the added possibility of being labeled “evidence-based”; (b) creating a concrete support in psychotherapeutic clinical work; and (c) furthering “meaningful use” while being consistent with the rapidly increasing use of information and communications technology. It also invites a degree of flexibility and creativity, with the potential benefits for motivation, retention, transfer, and expectations of future success and satisfaction with psychotherapy.

3. Practical Tips for Effective Use

The following ideas in the book, Introduction – Points to Consider, detail some practical tips on how to use the planners effectively. One way for an adolescent to begin thinking about his or her therapy is to receive an invitation to attend. The counselor indicates an interest in the adolescent and the approach he or she used for this treatment. The invitation also includes an introductory note and the Adolescent Psychotherapy Personal Progress Notes. When clients arrive at their first session, the first order of business is to welcome each person and introduce everyone in the room. It is the therapist’s responsibility to welcome and explain the time allotted with the parents and the time apportioned for the adolescent to meet with the therapist alone. Addressing the adolescent, the therapist reviews the Personal Progress Note, which also includes an invitation and a therapist letter. With the therapist, the client feels welcome and supported. Therapists should describe therapy as sharing with the client a plan that defines goals and a direction for the sessions.

By using the Adolescent Psychotherapy Homework Planner and/or the Adolescent Psychotherapy Progress Notes Planner as part of their therapeutic work, knowledgeable therapists will increase the probability of helping their young clients learn to develop and utilize healthier and more adaptive strategies for living. Both books are designed for the treatment of adolescents aged 13 through 18 and are coordinated with The Adolescent Psychotherapy Treatment Planner. The planners are designed to be used by mental health professionals working with individual clients or by a therapist working with a family. Given the high level of administrative regulation to which most therapists are now subject, these books are designed to assist therapists in the provision of such services as diagnosis, treatment planning, clinical language competency, and documentation for administrative purposes.

4. Sample Homework Assignments

How to use these HHS if you are an adolescent? You can pick any one assignment from a list of just two. It helps to find homework you will agree to before you finish therapy. How to use these HHS if you are an adult helping an adolescent? It helps if you can offer the homework to the adolescent for therapy unless you are really lucky or really skilled. How to use this Adolescent Homework Handout Set as an adolescent therapist? You can have your adolescent patients select their homework, provided these HHS are given to them before the patients enter treatment. Offering the patients choices to help them feel in control. Recommending that a patient make weekly appointments to work on the homework to relieve them of the need to think of something to do from week to week. If the work is going faster than you anticipate, counseling becomes meaningful problem-solving to find ways to get better faster, instead of discussing variations of one type of counseling and scheduling appointments in which both parties will be marking time.

There are very few areas in psychology where therapists are expected to change a client’s behavior without assuming responsibility for that change. Childhood psychotherapy is an exception to this general rule. Nowhere is this distinction between client responsibility and therapist responsibility more problematic than in the conundrum commonly known as homework in therapy. Therapists often find themselves at a loss in identifying appropriate homework assignments for their adolescent clients. This is because they are not aware of the therapeutic power behind a seemingly simple homework assignment (e.g., “Get support for your woundedness”). Solving this predicament is relatively simple when therapists are given a number of homework assignments to choose from. In this segment, we provide many sample homework assignments on a variety of presenting problems.

5. Conclusion

Furthermore, the treatment plan must be flexible and balanced so that changing needs of the adolescents or the environment would be addressed adequately. It is important that the adolescents and caregivers see the collaboratively agreed-upon plan in a written format. This shows that all parties acknowledge the main issue at hand and there is an unspoken commitment by all parties to effect change using one plan. Also, the psychotherapy homework planners should function as a guide and not an end in itself. That is, the completing of assignments should not become a mere PowerPoint exercise that confers no therapeutic benefits on the adolescents. The psychotherapist that encourages incessant but directed dialogue during the use of these assignments gains immeasurable insight into the psychological dynamics in the adolescent patient.

In conclusion, the clinician should consider the Adolescent Psychotherapy Homework Planner as an important tool in the therapeutic process. It serves as a guide on the kind of strategies to execute during the therapeutic function to achieve the objectives of utilizing the background information of the adolescent and environment. This is necessary to rapidly address the challenges limiting the harmonious relationship between adolescents and the environment and also to address the behavioral issues of the adolescents. The active participation of the adolescent, caregivers, and guidance in an ongoing manner always anchors the plan developed for helping the adolescents using the Adolescent Psychotherapy Homework Planner. These planners are therefore needed in clinical practice. Also, practical and field experiences are paramount in the clinical practice of child and adolescent psychotherapy. Therefore, field prevailing issues can be integrated into the homework planners. The Adolescent Psychotherapy Planners presented in this research were developed for use with clients by formal health practitioners, school counselors, independently practicing psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, and hospital-based child and adolescent psychiatrists.