Why Structure Your Sessions?
Note: This article was originally published in Substack on 7 Apr. 2023 I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of therapy sessions. When sessions lack impact, a handful of reasons are at play. But at...
Author: Daryl Chow, MA, PhD
Dropout Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 17 Mar. 2023 PART I 📕Must-Read: Premature Termination in Psychotherapy: Strategies for Engaging Clients and Improving Outcomes This 2015 book...
Reduce negative variance and increase positive variance
How to reduce dropouts from psychotherapy and inviting therapists to bring everything to bear.
Can ChatGPT Replace Psychotherapy?
Before ChatGPT took the world by storm a few months ago in Nov 2022, there was ELIZA. Invented by a professor in MIT named Joseph Weizenbaum, Eliza was a simple computer program, a chatbot...
Humour Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 3 Feb. 2023 PART I Why So Serious About Humour? THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEING FUNNY. Why cover this...
The 7 Mistakes of Clinical Supervision
One of the key areas related to our developmental efforts is in the realm of clinical supervision. Clinical supervision is the signature pedagogy of choice in psychotherapy. I’ve benefited a great deal from the...
Play Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 09 Dec. 2022 PART I One of the most profound ideas I’ve learned to take very seriously is the...
Existence Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 21 Oct. 2022 PART I Writing about existence is like writing about writing. This particular series is not exclusive...
Thinking in Thirds Closing The Session (Part III of III)
How Do You Close a Session in a Meaningful Way? In the previous 2 parts on Thinking in Thirds, I’ve detailed about the process of Stage 1 of creating an invitational beginning and Stage 2...
Thinking in Thirds: Going Deeper (Part II of III)
In Part I of Thinking in Thirds, I talked about the rule of three in various domains like the performing arts, storytelling and music, and how segmenting the therapy hour into thirds can be structurally...
20. Less Like an Assessment Tool…(Therapy Tip of the Week #7)
In this week’s Therapy Tip of the Week #7 (TTW), we talk about how to use outcome monitoring tools, not as an assessment tool, but as a conversational tool. If you have missed the...
Thinking in Thirds (Part I of III)
The Rule of Three in Performing Arts, Photography and Music. One of the primary ways to think about how you structure your therapy hour is to think in three parts. In the performing arts,...
The Guise of Feedback
Not all feedback is created equal. Who specifically do you trust to give you feedback about your development? It’s important to distinguish between performance feedback and learning feedback. Feedback from clients are performance feedback, used to specifically tune...
# 19. How to Elicit Nuanced Feedback Therapy Tip of the Week #6
In Therapy Tip of the Week #6, we continue on the topic of improving working alliance. Here’s my recommendation, when seeking for feedback, avoid talking about… you! If you have missed the previous videos...
Structuring a Therapy Session to Create Impact
The First Training on Shaping the Arch of a Psychotherapy Session to Make It Come AliveIf you are on the move, listen to the Frontiers Radio audio version, or anywhere else you get your podcasts. “Every...
#17. Seek to be Disconfirmed (Therapy Tip of the Week #5)
Dissonance can be a powerful ingredient for learning. How do we challenge our intuition in order to listen to our client’s unspokens in order to foster a deeper connection with them? In this video,...
#16. The Devil is the Details Between Sessions (Therapy Tip of the Week #4)
In this week’s therapy tip of the week, we are going to talk about the subject that you as a psychotherapist would be more than familiar with–except that it’s not what you expect. ⏳...
Alliance Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 26 Aug. 2022 PART I As a child, my uncle used to perform magic tricks for my cousins and...
#15. Embodied Cognition (Therapy Tip of the Week)
As psychotherapists, it’s easy to get lost in our heads. Our pet theories end up dominating and preventing us from being in touch with the person in front of us. In this Therapy Tip...
#14. Seasons Intelligence (Therapy Tip of the Week)
A client said that this idea of thinking in Seasons changed the experience of her struggles. She just came back from being away for several months due to her work. She was finding it hard...
#13. Therapy Tip of the Week: 5 Basic Needs
In this series on Therapy Tip of the Week, we’ll provide psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists one practical tip at each episode.My idea of giving you this is not so much as to prescribe to...
Sensitivity Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 06 Aug. 2022 PART I Reflection: Think of the people in your caseload who are highly sensitive individuals. Does...
Pay Careful Attention To a Highly Sensitive Person’s Inner Life
I’m not comfortable with labels. As a musician, I disliked the idea of categorising artists I listen to into genres. As a therapist, I’m rarely imposed a label or a DSM-V. We don’t like...
Emotions Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 25 Jun. 2022 PART I Reflection: HALT. Take a moment to check your body budget. Are you Hungry, Angry,...
Why You Need a Guide to Go Deep
“It takes two to know one,” ~ Gregory Bateson Some years ago at a therapy workshop, we were asked to go into small groups and someone was to be the therapist and another to...
Looking Back at 2021
Reviewing the previous year in June seems less like a reflection and more like an income tax review. Even though this is 6 months delayed, I’m still going to do this. For those who...
Solving for Patterns
Most of the time, we are solving for specifics. In the natural sciences, however, nature does not solve for specifics, but it solves for patterns. Paraphrasing Agriculturist Wendell Berry (1981), Janine Benus described the process...
Tech Tools for Therapists
Note: This article was originally published in Substack on 6 May 2022 PART I p/s: Happy Mother’s Day Reflection: What do you consume? The measure of what you output is based on the measure...
Client’s Point of View Series
Note: This is a compilation of Frontier Friday, a weekly Substack published, originally released on 9 Apr. 2022 PART I Client’s Point of ViewWhat is it like from the other side? This next few...
To Be Altered
Renowned improv teacher, Keith Johnstone says the following: Instead of telling actors that they must be good listeners (which is confusing), we should say, ‘Be altered by what’s said.’ Good theatre is like tennis in...
Recent Comments