13. Breathe: Termination

Termination is a process that prepares clients for their upcoming transition from therapy into their own independent work. In most cases, there is a belief that you should prepare clients for termination from the beginning. This means that you set treatment goals that are measurable to give a sense of a “finish line”. This way clients can be aware of their work over time and can also prepare themselves for the end as they reach the finish line. Once clients get to this point in treatment, it’s best practice to review the progress that they’ve made and come up with a maintenance plan. When you begin the therapy journey with a client, it can be hard to see the finish line, but it’s important that both you as the clinician and the client bear in mind that therapy is a time sensitive journey. The goal is to give the client tools that promote independence and a healthy lifestyle outside of therapy.

I understand that our clients are all coming in with distinct needs and desires. Each client is dealing with some sort of grief, loss or trauma. Sometimes, these things all coexist. Some clients are in precontemplation while others are in action. Some clients have parts that are loud, while others have managers that make them silent. Some clients will make attunement easy, others will make it a challenge. Some clients will realize that their childhood was unstable, others will need an ACES survey to do so. Some clients have many support systems and protective factors while others live day to day with many risk factors. Clients are diverse. Their situations are diverse, so the way in which we intervene has to be diverse. In all, as was said to us at the beginning of the course “the goals is to get clients to have a healthy attachment style to themselves.”

It is understanding that “trauma is not so much the event, but the experience”- Jennifer Cobbs

Understanding that we all have extremely unique experiences will make us understand the need for collaboration with our clients. I believe that this is my greatest takeaway from this course. There are so many modalities and interventions. There are so many ways to offer our clients the support that they need, but the greatest step is understanding that “As a human, we are all gifted with emotion.” It is understanding that we are all working together to work through these emotions and that when given the opportunity we can all start to understand, take ownership and thrive through our experiences.

References:

Therapist Aid. “Successful Therapy Termination (Guide).” Therapist Aid, Therapist Aid, 11 Dec. 2018, https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-guide/successful-therapy-termination.