Every psychotherapy and healthcare organization has a unique way of approaching and managing psychotherapy cases. But planning is always essential.
Some counselors and therapists rely on immediate cognition, sound thought procession, and experience working with patients, which is fine. But there are often recurrent complaints and situations where you find the patient and therapist saying they forgot to raise this or that topic during the session.
That’s why a counseling or psychotherapy session has to follow a laid down healthcare planning outline.
The Purpose for Planning During Psychotherapy and Counselling Sessions
Healthcare planning aims to ensure that important issues are not forgotten. It allows room for more questions from the therapist to the patient and vice versa. The consultation time is shorter than you think, so it is essential to take advantage of it.
At Urban Health Group, planning helps us, the service provider, and the patients communicate effectively about the issues and objectives of the session. It also helps ensure that the counselor or therapist and the patients are on the same page on the needed treatment.
Our mental care plan assists us in tracking progress and identifying whether recommended or guided treatments are effective or may need to be revisited or re-strategized. This is especially helpful in situations where multiple doctors attend to a patient.
Stages of Healthcare Planning for Counselling and Psychotherapy Cases
In the following, you will find an explanation of the planning stages of psychological therapy.
1. Initial Evaluation
This is the first phase of psychotherapy in which an interaction between the patient and the professional is established, and the reason for the consultation is explained.
During this interview, the patient is encouraged to express himself openly and honestly. Psychotherapy is a context in which the patient is not prejudged or blamed, regardless of what he explains.
2. Problem Identification
After collecting information from the patient, the psychologist establishes hypotheses about what is happening to the patient and what he can do or recommend to help them overcome that problem.
3. Action Planning
At this stage, the professional gives the patient a summary of his hypothesis and outlines the conclusions he has reached. After analyzing the problem,
a consensus is established about the nature of the patient’s situation. Then the psychotherapist proposes an intervention plan.
4. Treatment
In this phase, the intervention itself begins. This is the stage in which the psychologist “trains” the patient in the search for new ways of thinking, feeling, and behaving and applying these to his daily life.
5. Follow-up
As the patient applies the behavioral and thought habits learned in the psychotherapy sessions to his day-to-day life, the psychologist monitors his growth to see if he is progressing as expected or needs to change the treatment strategy.
6. End of therapy
In the last stages of treatment, as both the therapist and patient identify clear signs that the previously set goal is being reached, an end to therapy is planned. The therapist will help reconsolidate the change by helping the patient apply the learned therapeutic strategies to his day-to-day life.
Healthcare Planning Is Important in Psychotherapy
Healthcare planning is quite essential in counseling and psychotherapy practice. It can make a difference in finding a quick, cost-effective, and lasting solution to social and health issues that affect the state of mind.
At Urban Health Group, we’re passionate about providing counseling and psychotherapy support to patients in Oakland, CA.
