What invitational skills did you see the clinician use? What were the clinical interview strategies used to help build the relationship with the child client? What developmental or cultural adaptations did you see the clinician use? What might you have done differently?
Patient is a boy and therapist is a female.
Transcript:
Hi, Marcus. Thanks so much for coming in to see me today. I had a chance to talk with your mom. And so I thought it might be good if, actually, you and I had a chance to talk so I could get to learn a little bit about you. Have you ever come to see a counselor or a therapist before?
No.
No? Yeah. What are your thoughts about being here today?
Nothing.
Nothing? Yeah. OK. All right. Probably hard to know what to expect if you’ve never actually been before. And it kind of looks like you’re not sure that you want to be here today. Did your mom talk with you about why she wanted you to come see me?
No.
No? No? She didn’t give you any sense? Do you have any guesses as to why she thought it might be a good idea for us to get to know each other?
I don’t know.
You don’t know?
Nuh-uh.
Nuh-uh? OK. So, well, I tell you what. We don’t have to do a bunch of talking. We can also kind of do other kinds of things together. In fact, I asked your mom to ask you to draw a picture, which you did. So thank you. And you brought it in. It’s beautiful. I want to ask you a little bit about it. So you drew a picture of yourself. Tell me where are you in this picture?
Just on a sunny day.
Just a sunny day, right? You like sunny days?
Yeah.
OK. All right. So you know where in particular– you’re not in the mountains, you’re not at the beach, at school, or anywhere in particular?
No.
No? OK. So just Marcus out on a sunny day– doing anything in particular?
Not really.
Not really? All right. OK. So good job. I really like it. It’s a good self-portrait. I’m curious, I’m wondering, if you were to add in any family members, who might you add to this picture?
No on.
No one? No? So there’s nobody that you might want to add to the picture? Nuh-uh?
No.
OK. So that’s– it seems like that would be kind of lonely. It’s a beautiful day. To have someone to enjoy the day with you might be helpful, or maybe not. Some people like enjoying beautiful days by themself.
I wonder if I ask the sloth over here– the sloth is actually my favorite one– if I asked the sloth, who do you think Marcus would kind of want to hang out with on a beautiful day, what would the sloth tell me?
I don’t know.
Don’t know? Well, let’s ask him. Let’s find out. Let’s see. Let’s see what he’ll say to me, see what he says. He thinks maybe your mom. Would you want your mom to come hang out with you on this beautiful day?
No.
No? Why not?
‘Cause she’s been at work too much.
She’s been at work a lot? Yeah. OK. So she may not be there because she’s working a lot. Hmm. Let me see if the sloth has any other ideas. Maybe something else. The sloth thinks or wonders what about your dad? Would your dad be somebody?
No.
No? OK. You said that pretty quickly, pretty firmly. So you have a good sense. Why not your dad?
‘Cause he wasn’t around here.
He wasn’t around?
He’s not here for me.
He’s not there for you? Yeah. Do you want your dad to be around for you?
Yeah, I guess.
OK. All right. Yeah. So sounds like you– he’s not around, but you would like him to be around. And sometimes when we don’t always get what we want, we can feel disappointed or angry or sad. Are those ever any kind of ways that you feel about not having your dad around?
No.
No? OK. All right. Well, sometimes, we’re not even sure sometimes what we feel, right? We just know, like, the sun is shining. It was a blue sky. And it’s a beautiful day. But maybe sometimes, we’re still having some of those feelings. I wonder if that happens to you sometimes?
Hmm. What about at school, because it wasn’t just your mom I talked to? But I know that at school, there have been some things happening also. Do you like school?
No. Not really.
No? Yeah. What is it about school that you don’t like?
Me having to pay attention.
Ah, I tell you, especially if you’ve got a lot of stuff on your mind, huh? Is there one particular class where you have to pay attention more than another?
No.
No? Yeah. What if we drew– I know that in this picture, it’s a beautiful day. But what if we drew you at school in this picture?
I don’t know.
Yeah? OK. Well, we could try that. And maybe you can show me what you would be doing instead of paying attention if you were able to. I don’t know. That would seem weird, though, huh, because you have to pay– they– teachers really want you to pay attention. That’s kind of annoying sometimes, isn’t it? What would you rather be doing than paying attention at school?
Playing.
Playing? What would you be playing?
A game.
Any particular game?
Are you into Pokemon or– do kids still play with Pokemon?
Maybe a sport.
Oh, a sport. OK. Oh, I should have guessed. You kind of look more athletic. Is basketball your sport?
Yeah.
Basketball. OK. Who’s your favorite basketball player?
I knew it! I almost said Kevin Durant. I was wondering. He’s your favorite. Very cool. So maybe what we can do next time is– I know that we talked a little bit about your mom and dad. And it sounds like those are not easy things to talk about. I get it. Why don’t we talk a little bit more about Kevin Durant and basketball and your friends?
I guess.
Maybe, you guess? Why don’t you draw– how about this, before we meet the next time, why don’t you draw a picture of you and Kevin Durant playing basketball? And we can talk about that.
Maybe.
Maybe? I’ll take it. I’ll take a maybe.
[CHUCKLING]
Gotcha. Got you to smile. You did it.
[CHUCKLING]
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