Grounded in a results-oriented brief therapy model, this user-friendly guide presents the author's "boot camp" approach--focusing on a client's immediate behavior, helping them to do things differently, take action, concentrate on process, and use targeted goals and homework to jump-start and motivate them into taking risks and breaking patterns. Following this approach, Taibbi walks readers through session-by-session treatment "maps" for achieving solutions to three of the most common issues in therapy.

Short, practical, and applicable to all therapeutic modalities, this book walks readers through all the first-session essentials, including preparation for the first session, action-steps for each stage of the session, techniques for changing the emotional climate, and "closing the deal," to make sure that clients come back for more Packed with case examples, vignettes, tools, and techniques, The Art of the First Session prepares clinicians with critical skills to cut through performance anxiety, feel and convey confidence with clients, and hit the ground running in therapy with new...