How often do you need to come for training?
Based on surveys, a large percentage of clinicians recommend two to three sessions a week to start with. Some feel even three or four trainings per week accelerate the learning process. The vast majority of clinicians run twice a week sessions. Why?
For one, many clients are resistant to coming more often. Also, twice a week has proven successful. If distance is an issue, some therapists will accept clients with one session a week, some will not. It partially depends on the kind of problem that is being tackled. Patients should talk with a clinician carefully about their situation. Training successes have been reported for a small number of clients who trained only once a week. But once a week training may increase drop-out rates. Learning just occurs more slowly.
The optimum number of training sessions has not been well studied. For clients who live far away, some clinicians run two sessions in the same day, separated by at least 30 to 45 minutes. FOR SERIOUS PROBLEMS, such as addiction, two sessions a day - five days a week has been shown in research to be very successful. No one in private practice typically does that intensive of training. The exception - summertime, when when kids are out of school. Some therapists will train kids every day or twice a day.
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