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Publications
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Session 8 - Conclusion
Brief Couples Therapy: Group and Individual Couple Treatment for Addiction and Related Mental Health Concerns
For this session:
Objectives
- Summary session of issues and work done — couples will review major issues and goals.
- Couples will work on future goals and plans to prevent lapsing into problem patterns.
Checklist
Guidelines for the counsellor with tips on what to do with or say to the client.
- Check-in
Ask about issues arising from the last session.
“Name a thought, word or feeling that describes how you are right now.”
- Stating the Format and Purpose of This Session
“The purpose of this group is 1) to review the major issues and goals; 2) to normalize/formalize the ending process; 3) to
plan future goals and how you can avoid returning to old patterns that are unhelpful or problematic.”
Some of the issues discussed over the past eight weeks include goal identification, drug use patterns and impact, building
trust/intimacy, coping with differences/conflicts and relapse planning.
It is important to keep in mind that the end of any program may bring out a range of feelings (e.g., sadness, joy, anxiety
and relief) both in the participant and in the therapist. The ending of this group can be viewed as a transition or a new
beginning for the couples and their relationship; it is a chance to follow through on the change process that they have started
by attending the Brief Couples Therapy (BCT) program.
- Reviewing Homework
Discuss relapse prevention plans. Raise issues about how a relapse could be handled and its impact on the relationship.
- Homework (Imagining Changes Six Months from Now)
Ask the participants the following question: “Let’s pretend it is six months later. What would you like to be able to report
about changes in your relationship?”
Based on what the participants talk about, point out that this is what they can then work on for the next six months. What
they have selected can be their vision or miracle, and they can then continue to work on it as if they were returning.
The therapist may summarize and underscore progress made over the course of therapy.
- Obtaining Feedback on Treatment
“What was most helpful about the treatment?”
“Do you have any suggestions on how to improve these sessions?”
Therapists take notes on clients’ feedback.
- Check-out
Give a Gift: imagine that there is a box of all sorts of gifts on the table before you. I’d like you to take a minute and
think of one tangible and one intangible gift that you would like to take and give to the person on your right.
Materials
- pens and copies of exercises or notes from previous sessions
Summary
- Check-in
- Name a thought/word/feeling and/or discuss issues arising from the last session.
- Stating the Format and Purpose of This Session
- Review goals and issues.
- Plan to avoid negative patterns and habits.
- Plan for the future.
- Reviewing Relapse Prevention/Maintenance homework
- Homework (Imagine Changes Six Months from Now)
- Obtaining Feedback on Treatment
- Check-out
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Tips for Individual Couple Session 8
- Use the time for summarizing and highlighting progress achieved during the sessions.
- Discuss how the couple can avoid relapsing into negative patterns and habits.
- Checkout: ask the couple to identify one “hope” they have for themselves as a couple.
Brief Couples Therapy
Acknowledgments
Introduction
References
Appendix A: The Background of the Integrative Model
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Centre for Addiction
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