Single Session Therapy and Neuroscience: Scaffolding and Social Engagement

Brief narrative practices are becoming one of the most utilized collaborative approaches in walk-in therapy clinics and single session therapy across Ontario, Canada (Duvall & Young, 2015; Duvall, Young, & Kayes-Burden, 2012; Young, 2011b). The deliberate attention to scaffolding questions that create movement toward new understandings is a cornerstone of narrative practice (White, 2007) and one that is key in providing meaningful change in single session counseling (Young, 2008, 2011a). These scaffolded brief conversations establish a partnership between the client and therapist as the therapist proposes incremental questions that co-create new knowledge. The process is highly collaborative, relational, and social, all necessary components for meaningful outcomes in brief therapy (Duvall & Young, 2015; Hubble, Duncan, & Miller, 1999; Lambert, Shapiro, & Bergin, 1994; Orlinsky, Grawe, & Parks, 1994). Recent literature has been illuminating important intersections between the growing knowledge in neuroscience and both well-established and innovative practices in narrative therapy (Beaudoin & Zimmerman, 2011; Cozolino, 2010; Maclennan, 2015; Zimmerman & Beaudoin, 2015).