Use your notepad to claim your chair before the client enters the room. If you can sit where you need to be, there will be no unease to be misinterpreted by the client.

Unfamiliar co-therapists can use code phrases to transfer control of the session. Both they and the client can then focus on the client’’s issues rather than the dynamics between the therapists.

Be prepared to deal with the companions clients may bring to therapy. Dealing gracefully and helpfully with them can”t hurt your relationship with the client.

Some rules of thumb are derived from experience, accurate or otherwise, (eg: the praecox effect) and some from hard research (eg: people with memory problems don’t admit to them), but all have a common flaw: even if true, they are both generalisations across a population and specific to the circumstances of their origin.

Clients are likely to have questions about our services. Some may be asked, others may remain unspoken unless raised by the therapist.

Speaking more slowly can improve communication between therapist and client. Slow speech is more comprehensible and more considered.