Integrating the Walk-In Clinic and Brief Therapy Processes to Enhance Treatment Outcomes: A 1 + 3 Session Intervention for Youth Presenting with Anxiety and Depression

Abstract

This article describes a postmodern and integrative approach to walk-in clinic therapy and brief therapy for youth presenting with anxiety and depression. Externalising metaphors therapy (EMT) has the potential to enhance client outcomes through the integration of its two treatment models: a single-session model and a three-session model. The purpose of this article is to describe the integration of the walk-in clinic model (six-stage process) with the three-session model (15-stage process). The walk-in clinic process synergistically corresponds with and encapsulates the three-session treatment model. A combined treatment protocol is outlined in a case illustration and table format for the clinician practitioner. The model is based on qualitative and quantitative data, which provide preliminary support for the development of an integrative approach. A composite literature review was conducted within the scope of walk-in clinic psychotherapy and brief services psychotherapy in terms of process research and mental health research. The article also contains a more focused literature review on the proposed treatment model. Enhanced client outcomes is the primary goal of combining the walk-in clinic and three-session treatment model(s). Through this newly proposed model, youth engaging in mental health services may experience a scaffolding continuity of the therapy process that integrates these different treatment modalities. Youth experience the EMT treatment process at the walk-in clinic and may return to experience the model in greater depth during the subsequent three sessions.