Signs to End Therapy: When & How ?
Counseling and psychotherapy sessions, even though they have different time durations for each, have to come to an end eventually. We are taught how to take a therapy session and how to move forward with it, but how do we actually end a session? When to do it? How to do it? Because we can’t just tell the client,
“OK, that’s it for the session, and we are done with all of them; I am ending all of the sessions now.”
So instead of that, here’s what you can do. In this blog, we will talk about
signs for termination,
how to do it, and
how a client can further help themselves from there onwards.
Termination: “Refers to the professional process and a relationship between a client and their therapist and the ending of the same”.
When to Initiate Therapy Termination
Here are some practical signals that indicate that it may the beginning of the end (oh man! That sounds a bit of a downer, but its actually a good thing in this case 😇)
1.If the therapist and client both notice that the original symptoms clients brought into therapy are no longer recurring with any regularity.
2. Short or medium term goals set together has been met by the client and progress is noticeable.
3. Therapy has helped clients gain the skill set to manage any symptoms that may arise in the future, and the client understands that the therapist would always be there for them, in case they needed it.
These are all positive signs that indicate the client is ready to pause or end therapy. There may also be negative signs.
1.When therapist and client both notice a lack of progress and have the feeling of being stuck.
2.The client has developed romantic or dependent feelings towards the therapist and other alternative interventions have not worked.
3.There are red flags that indicate the therapist and client may not be a good fit due to values or modality misalignment.
What To Do In The Last Session
If you, as a therapist, are not prepared enough for the last session, it can come across as unfinished or even awkward. It is always good to have a pre-planned template for the last session and even better to have agreed this with clients in one of your earlier sessions.
Here are some activities that you can keep in your last session template.
1.Write a letter
Both therapist and client can write a letter to each other. This could be a keepsake and a closure for the client.
Therapist to Client letter can include details of the progress the client has made, reminding them of the skills they had gained along the way. This letter should be more about the client and not how the client made the therapist feel. Here are few things that can be included in that letter,
What was the focus and areas of concerns which the client brought to therapy when they started.
The process in which they approached the concern areas, along with patterns they uncovered as part of therapy
Highlight coping mechanisms and toolkit adopted by the client
Reminder of the improvements clients have made through the process
Client to themselves letter can be addressed to their past, present or future self. It can include,
How they felt before coming to session, especially focusing on emotions and behaviours
How they feel now and what has changed or what they know about themselves now
Remember significant events of breakthrough or understanding that came during therapy
Write fun anecdotes or progress made by the client
What they wish to do in the future
2.Creating an emergency toolbox
The client and therapist together could create an emergency toolbox. A simple process for it could look like
A list of things that helps the client with emotional regulation, such as squishy toys or a grounding stone or a charms bracelet
A vision board with empowering quotes that helps the client remember progress they have made
Pictures of comfort foods that help the client de-stress etc.
These could serve as a memory of the client's therapy progress and also give them an alternative way out during stressful times.
3.Between session activities from Zensible
Create a summary of all the feedback the client gave about between-session activities in Zensible. Review which one helped the client the most and the least. Understand why they worked or did not work at that time and make a checklist of which ones can be used by the client in the future even when their therapy sessions have ended.
Remind clients that their Zensible session summaries, activities and feedbacks are there for them to review whenever they would like to and its a digital toolkit to help them beyond their interactions with the therapist.
Therapy Termination Reflections
Here are some common phrases or questions that therapists can use in their last sessions
“As we come to the end of the session, how are you feeling about it?"
"What are your future plans now that your sessions are almost coming to an end?"
"I just wanted to take this moment to appreciate how far you have come in this journey."
With this, we come to the end of this blog post, keeping in mind what you understand about "termination," what it is exactly, what are some methods to do the same, and all the surface-level information that you can use regarding it. Until the next one, take care, you lovely human beans! And remember that sometimes endings (especially in therapy) can be beautiful too !
