On Becoming a Better Therapist

How can therapists become better at doing what they love, avoid burnout, and prevent client dropout?

Respected therapist, trainer, and researcher Barry Duncan asserts that getting better at this work requires therapists to dedicate themselves to two key tasks: obtaining systematic client feedback and taking charge of their own development as a therapist.

This book describes his Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS), which provides systematic feedback from clients, thereby enabling therapists to identify and target clients who aren't responding to traditional treatment before they drop out.

Duncan examines the common factors inherent to all successful therapies and details the importance of the therapeutic alliance as the foundation of effective therapy.  He encourages therapists to expand their theoretical breadth, think deeply about the lessons they learn from their clients, and integrate these lessons into their performance.

Scholarly yet deeply personal, with lively case examples and unfailing good humor, Duncan's work is essential reading for anyone who seeks to rediscover purpose in their work.  New to this edition are two chapters, one demonstrating PCOMS with couples, families, and youth and the other presenting how to implement PCOMS on an organizational scale.

This book also integrates the author's responses to many thoughtful questions raised by trainees and readers of the last edition.

Foreword to the First Edition
Michael J. Lambert

Foreword to the Second Edition
David N. Elkins

Preface

1. So You Want to Be a Better Therapist
2. Becoming a Better Therapist With PCOMS
3. How Being Bad Can Make You Better
4. Getting Better With Couples, Families, and Youth
5. Using PCOMS to Accelerate Your Development
6. The Heart and Soul of Change
7. Wizards, Humbugs, or Witches
8. Becoming a Better Agency
9. For the Love of the Work

References

Index

About the Author

Barry L. Duncan, PsyD, a therapist, trainer, and researcher with 17,000 hours of clinical experience, is director of the Heart and Soul of Change Projectopens in new window.

Dr. Duncan has published, as author or coauthor, more than 100 articles in various publications, as well as 16 books, addressing client feedback, consumer rights and involvement, the power of relationship, and a risk/benefit analysis of psychotropic medications. Because of his self-help books (the latest is What's Right With You), he has appeared on Oprah and several other national TV programs.

His work regarding consumer rights and client feedback, the Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS), is included in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Registry of Evidence-Based Programs and Practices and has been implemented across the United States and in 20 other countries. He codeveloped PCOMS to give clients the voice they deserve as well as to provide clients, clinicians, administrators, and payers with feedback about the client's response to services, thus enabling more effective care tailored to client preferences. He is the developer of the clinical process of PCOMS.

Dr. Duncan implements PCOMS in small and large systems of care and conducts agency trainings, workshops, and keynote presentations on all of the topics listed above. Drawing upon his extensive clinical experience and passion for the work, his trainings speak directly to the frontline clinician about what it means to be a therapist and how each of us can re-remember and achieve our original aspirations to make a difference in the lives of those we serve.

Dr. Duncan may be reached by email at Barry L. Duncanopens in new window.