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Brief Therapy

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Brief Therapy: Get in, Get out, Get on With a Better Life

Transformational change can happen faster than you'd ever believe

Good therapy will get you feeling better and making constructive choices that improve your quality of life. That means you shouldn't have to keep going. And the transformational changes you're looking for aren't necessarily years of therapy sessions away. If you're ready to do the work, the tools are ready for you.

A young woman and an older woman sit across from each other on a gray sofa, talking with a small round black table between them. The older woman has shoulder-length black hair, is wearing a white blouse and blue skirt, and is writing in a notebook. There is a cup on the table. The young woman has her hair in a bun, wears a green shirt and pink pants, and looks attentively at the older woman. A large potted plant is behind them, and a red armchair is in the foreground.

Online brief therapy for anxiety, depression, relationship, grief, intimate partner communication, stress, and life stage issues may be an amazing opportunity for you to get the resolution and change you're hungry for. Brief therapy can be effective whether you've been in therapy before or are considering it for the first time.

Brief therapy is powerful

Brief therapy focuses on single problem or symptom relief by intentionally excluding other, less pertinent issues. In brief therapy, we'll start with the event that's bringing you in (which might be something that happened in your life or something internal, something that you sense has changed within you) and work on four key areas:

  • Improved insight about the issue which means more satisfying resolution opportunities

  • Realistic and manageable action steps forward to resolution

  • Improved coping skills that match your personality, temperament, and lifestyle

  • Self-management of challenging thoughts and feelings related to problem

  • Follow-up and troubleshooting

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Brief therapy can be for individuals, family members, and partners

Need to have a tough conversation with a family member and you're dreading it, or are you stuck in the middle of a seemingly unending circular argument with a loved one? Feel tongue-tied, or like you simply can't help your emotions from getting the best of you when it matters the most? Is a high-stakes issue bringing out the worst side of you and leaving you the least able to discuss it let alone handle it? Brief therapy is a great way to get some support, impartial feedback, and third-party guidance for some of the hardest situations we find ourselves in, and the ones that matter the most. Brief therapy is a powerfully safe space where we can concentrate on the specific issue of concern, with support, guidance, and empathy toward each individual so that you can get to the resolution you're seeking, without shame, blame, or giving up your needs.

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You don't have to know if brief therapy is right for you to try it

Hey . . . getting clarity is part of what sends folks looking for therapy, right? You may not know if brief therapy is the right fit for you and you don't have to. As we unpack your reason for seeking therapy, we can figure out together if brief therapy is right for you, or if it can be an important part of the bigger changes you want to make happen for your life.

Therapy is for you when you need it, as often as you need it, for as briefly or long as you need it

You need exactly what you need to get through a tough time, decision, or experience, and not one session more. And you may need therapy again, in the future, for one session, two sessions, or ten sessions. So if it's one session or ten; a year or a week since you've last been in to talk; you're the best judge of when you need that extra support, feedback, or a safe space.

People Also Ask

  • Brief therapy is explicitly solutions-focused. That means the aim of our work is helping you discover a specific solution to a specific issue, problem, or concern that you have. Exploration of the past or your history in solutions-focused work is minimal, unless it's directly pertinent to solution-finding and implementation (and/or barriers to these), or if we decide that a part or parts of your history is relevant to how you understand both the issue we're addressing, and the solution.

  • Brief therapy generally refers to about five to 15 sessions, although there are models in which the expectation is between 12-30. You may find that multiple brief episodes of therapy (several sessions or weeks at a time) are a really effective and efficient way to address concerns as they come up, or to revisit an issue after you've had some time to try out your new insight and skills. You can always come back into therapy for what you need, when you need it . . . you don't have to keep showing up every week while waiting for something in your life to go sideways.

  • Yes, brief therapy is evidenced-based which means it's been demonstrated to be effective in clinical trials. Not all therapies are effective in a brief model, and not all therapies are intended to be used in a brief model.

  • Brief therapy refers to certain kinds of therapy that are noticeably shorter in duration such as SFBT (Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy), as well as certain therapies such as CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) that have been demonstrated in many cases to be highly effective in a relatively short number of sessions. Some types of therapies are not appropriate for brief therapy due to the nature of the concern and the interventions appropriate and evidenced-based for addressing those concerns. Eating disorders, PTSD, trauma, psychosis, and substance use disorders are some examples of conditions that are not appropriate targets of brief therapy.

  • Solutions-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) have demonstrated effectiveness in relatively short-term courses of therapy and are the most widely used in brief work, often in combination.

  • Brief therapy has demonstrated effectiveness for many though not all concerns. Anxiety, depression, grief, relationship issues, stress, and lifestyle changes have all been effectively addressed in brief therapy models, although the effectiveness of brief therapy is not and cannot be guaranteed and varies from individual to individual.

  • Nope. You should go to therapy as often as it makes sense for you and as often as you need to get something out of it. You may want more or less time to process in between sessions, try out your skills, or metabolize your learnings and feelings. This is different from brief therapy, however, and is considered "as needed" per your self-assessment of how you're doing. This is not a model that has clinical evidence, although many clients find that after an initial series of regular (weekly) sessions, "as needed" is a great way to sustain progress and get a little tune-up.

  • Going to therapy once a month is not considered brief therapy. Brief therapy refers to contiguous sessions over a relatively brief period of time.