Individual Therapist, Family Therapist

You Are Not the Only Therapist in Town

An excuse often offered for doing individual, couples, and family work interchangeably with the same people is that the people involved insist on it. Underlying their preference is their belief that you have done excellent work. This is ?attering, but not a convincing argument. Choosing to cross the boundaries and do the additional work can, in fact, undo some of the good work you did in the ?rst place. Avoiding dual roles, an ethical guideline present in all mental health professional ethics codes, includes avoiding being someone’s family therapist and individual therapist if being in both roles may cause you to lose objectivity .

Catering to the clients’ ideas that you are the best or only option is, in fact, not even necessarily healthy. Helping clients attain a more ?exible manner of functioning in the world and increasing their capacities for relationships are goals that undergird most forms of therapy. Encouraging an individual to try a different therapist because you were his or her couple counselor can be an important vote of con?dence in the client.

It communicates that you believe the client can connect with another professional and can use that therapeutic relationship to grow and change. It is rarely, if ever, justi?ed to 366 Interviewing Special Populationsallow or encourage client dependence on you as the counselor. Obviously, in some rural settings, managing multiple therapy relationships in one family may be unavoidable. In fact, you may not be the only competent therapist in town, you may be the only therapist in town .