For many therapists, tracking and making sense of the latest developments in psychotherapy can feel overwhelming. How can you achieve better results, more often, with a wider variety of clients? In short: How can you become a better therapist?

In this book, Barry L. Duncan answers these questions and more by examining the common factors inherent in all successful therapies and details the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a foundation of effective therapy. He provides clear and compelling advice for how therapists can systematically deal with clients who do not seem to improve over time. This essential direction is presented in a clearly outlined five-step method for integrating client-based outcome feedback with therapists’ long-term professional development.

With interesting case examples and ample portions of good humor, Duncan’s book is essential reading for any clinician who seeks to rediscover purpose in their work and become a better therapist.

Educational Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the clinician will be able to:

• Identify the common factors inherent in all successful therapies.
• Integrate a simple, five-step method of integrating honest, client-based outcome feedback with therapists’ long-term professional development into a coherent whole.
• Use The Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) as a tool to provide real-time feedback to both clients and providers to improve effectiveness of services and as a way to measure outcome.
• Detail the importance of the therapeutic alliance as a foundation of effective therapy and incorporate the Session Rating Scale (SRS) to measure the alliance.
• Identify clients who are not benefiting from therapy, brainstorm with clients about can be done differently, and release clients to other options when therapy does not turn around.
• Understand the three sources of healing involvement, chart your cumulative career development, and implement strategies to improve your effectiveness as a therapist.
• Acquire skills for an approach to therapy that is client-directed, outcome-informed, alliance-focused, and discovery-oriented.

Syllabus / Course Instructions

• The Course consists of reading the selected book, successfully completing an online posttest and filling out a course evaluation.
• The book is not included. It must be purchased separately. We have supplied a link to Amazon.com for your convenience.
• Purchasing your course will give you access to both a printable copy of the test and an online version. Print the test to use as a companion as you read the book and answer the questions.
• You cannot exit the online test once you begin, so have your answers available.

Additional Resources On This Site for CE

• The Gift of Therapy
  by Irvin Yalom: 10 CE Credits
• Getting Over OCD: A 10-Step Workbook for Taking Back Your Life
  Jonathan S. Abramowitz, PhD: 12 CE Credits
• The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide: What You and Your Family Need to Know
  David J. Miklowitz, Ph.D.: 15 CE Credits
• Flourishing: Positive Psychology and the Life Well-Lived
  Edited by Corey L. M. Keyes and Jonathan Haidt: 13 CE Credits
• The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice (Fifth Edition)
  by Dennis Saleebey: 8 CE Credits
• Authentic Happiness
  by Martin E. P. Seligman: 10 CE Credits

Additional Resources Not On This Site

• www.theheartandsoulofchange.com
• www.whatsrightwithyou.com
• barrylduncan@comcast.net
• American Psychological Association www.apa.org
• Association of Social Work Boards www.aswb.org
• National Board of Certified Counselors www.nbcc.org
• National Association of Addiction Professionals www.naadac.org

Bio: Barry L. Duncan, PsyD

Barry L. Duncan, PsyD, is a therapist, researcher and trainer. He is the director of the Heart and Soul of Change Project (http://www.heartandsoulofchange.com), a practice-driven training and research initiative that focuses on what works in therapy, and more important, on how to deliver it on the front lines via client-based outcome feedback.

He has over 100 publications as well as 15 books, including The Heroic Client, Brief Intervention for School Problems, and the second edition of The Heart and Soul of Change. He is the codeveloper of the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), Session Rating Scale (SRS), and Child SRS, which are measures designed to give clients the voice they deserve, as well as to provide clients, clinicians, administrators, and payers with feedback about the clients response to services, thus enabling more effective care tailored to client preferences.

Because of his self-help books, Dr. Duncan has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, The View, and other national TV programs. His latest self-help book, Whats Right With You, demonstrates how to rally natural resources and resiliencies to overcome life challenges. He conducts seminars internationally in hopes of inciting insurrection against practices that diminish clients and encouraging therapists to establish their own identity. He can be reached at barrylduncan@comcast.net, http://www.whatsrightwithyou.com, and http://www.heartandsoulofchange.com.