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Substance Abuse and Counselling
therapy and the therapeutic process, and because the clients tend to remember and accept best what they themselves have spoken of, and the clients are more likely to select the most important client-relevant contexts in the discussions. Discussion of Follow-Up Sessions It is never advisable to conclude therapy abruptly. However well motivated the clients, however painstaking the efforts of the counsellor and however seemingly successful the therapy, many clients run into problems soon after termination. This can be attributed to issues that arise de novo, or simply to issues that were, for some reason or another, just not resolved during the actual therapy. It is therefore, necessary for the clients to continue to maintain contact with the counsellor for continued assistance for the maintenance of the functional equilibrium. The frequency of such follow-up sessions is based upon individual circumstances, and can increase or decrease depending upon the need. Stressing of ‘Open Doors’ ‘Open doors’ refers to continued, uncritical accessibility of the counsellor to the clients. The clients have to clearly understand that they need not feel guilt in case they relapse into dysfunction – guilt that they have ‘failed’ the counsellor. Instead, they should be made to feel that the counsellor will always be available to them, and that he will uncritically resume therapy as and when needed. This gives the clients the confidence that all is not lost even if they relapse. When the above is completed to the satisfaction of both the clients and the counsellor, the therapy is terminated formally.