Brief therapy in college counseling and mental health

Abstract

Several factors have converged to make brief counseling and therapy the preferred mode of individual service delivery for college counseling and mental health services. The authors introduce the topic of brief therapy, offer a rationale for its use in college contexts, and discuss significant issues, research findings, and therapist attitudes in support of successful use of these approaches. This is followed by a description of issues of implementation, including assessment processes, interventions (short-term intermittent approaches, very brief therapy, single-session counseling, crisis intervention within brief therapy, connections with multiculturally oriented psychology, and brief group therapy), and referral issues. General conclusions about brief therapy in college settings and recommendations for research on furthering use of these approaches are offered.