Engaging and Retaining Clients in Psychotherapy

In this DVD, Dr. Joshua K. Swift demonstrates his approach to encouraging clients to attend, engage in, and complete psychotherapy treatment. This approach includes strategies that assist in incorporating preferences into the treatment decision-making process and assisting the client in planning for appropriate termination.

In this video program, Dr. Swift provides education about patterns of change in psychotherapy with an older female client who is grieving from several losses in her family. Topics such as the importance of strengthening hope, enhancing motivation, and fostering the therapeutic alliance are discussed in comprehensive detail.

Encouraging clients to attend, engage in, and complete treatment includes providing role induction, incorporating preferences into the treatment decision-making process, assisting the client in planning for appropriate termination, providing education about patterns of change in psychotherapy, strengthening hope, enhancing motivation, fostering the therapeutic alliance, and discussing treatment progress.

These techniques are designed to socialize clients to psychotherapy, build their investment in treatment, and develop a strong foundation for the therapeutic alliance. They are integrative in that they can be applied across theoretical orientations and suited to the therapist's individual approach to working with clients.

Dr. Joshua K. Swift is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at Idaho State University. At Idaho State University he is a core faculty member in the clinical psychology PhD program where he teaches, mentors, and supervises students in research and clinical work.

He graduated with his PhD in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, completed his doctoral internship at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, New York, and completed his BS at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

Dr. Swift is a psychotherapy processes and outcome researcher, with a particular emphasis on premature termination in psychotherapy and the client's role in treatment. He coauthored the book Premature Termination in Psychotherapy, published by APA, and has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles.

Dr. Swift is an associate editor for the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration and on the editorial board for the journals Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, and Training and Education in Professional Psychology.

His research has been recognized with several awards, including the APA Division 29 (Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy) Early Career Award, the Western Psychological Association Enrico E. Jones Psychotherapy Research Award, and the APA Division 29 Distinguished Publication of Psychotherapy Research Award.

In addition to his research and teaching experiences, Dr. Swift is a licensed psychologist.

APA Videos

• Case Formulation in Psychotherapy
  Tracy D. Eells
• The Human and Relational Core of Psychotherapy
  David N. Elkins
• Integrative Therapy
  John C. Norcross
• The Process of Change in Integrative Therapy
  J. Scott Fraser
• Therapeutic Assessment With Adults
  Stephen E. Finn
• The Therapy Relationship
  Charles J. Gelso
• Using Client Feedback in Therapy
  Barry L. Duncan

APA Books

• The Basics of Psychotherapy: An Introduction to Theory and Practice
  Bruce E. Wampold
• Becoming an Effective Psychotherapist: Adopting a Theory of Psychotherapy That's Right for You and Your Client
  Derek Truscott
• On Becoming a Better Therapist, Second Edition: Evidence-Based Practice One Client at a Time
  Barry L. Duncan
• Premature Termination in Psychotherapy: Strategies for Engaging Clients and Improving Outcomes
  Joshua K. Swift and Roger P. Greenberg
• Psychotherapy Case Formulation
  Tracy D. Eells