Meeting Agenda
8:00
-- Call the meeting to order.
8:00-8:30 -- General discussion about
the clinic as a whole, not individual cases.
8:30-10:30 -- Each therapist
is to present a case, one at a time in five minutes or less. Try to keep discussion
to 10 minutes or less.
10:30-10:45 -- Coffee break.
10:45-12:00
-- Continue discussion on individual cases.
12:00-1:00 -- Lunch.
1:00-3:00
-- Continue discussion on individual cases.
3:00-3:15 -- Coffee break.
3:15-4:15
-- Continue discussion on individual cases.
4:15-4:30 -- Closing discussion,
overall feel for meeting.
4:30 -- Meeting closed.
Communication
is at the heart of mental health therapy.
"If you want to be in
this field, it's pretty key," says Nicole Gillis-Copping. She's a therapist
who works a lot with couples.
"You really do learn a lot of that
at the master's level, in terms of how you're communicating and the importance
of [communication] and body language and... what actual listening and understanding
actually looks like, instead of just thinking you're listening," says Gillis-Copping.
(She has a master's degree in social work.)
As a therapist, you don't
just need to have great communication skills yourself. You also need to help
your clients with theirs.
"I'd say it's the number one
thing couples come in for," says Gillis-Copping. "I don't think I've had one
couple in all my years of practicing counseling that didn't have a communication
problem."