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Brief Therapy Institute creative solutions
for life's problems
About
the BTI Since 1988, the Brief Therapy Institute (BTI) has offered affordable, innovative, effective counseling services to thousands of tri-county residents. On April 25, 2005, we moved from the East Campus of Nova Southeastern University (NSU) to the Main Campus. We are now located on the first floor of the Maltz Building, sharing clinical space with the NSU Psychological Services Center (PSC). We are still a stand-alone operation, offering our unique approach to therapeutic services and training, but our new location makes us more accessible to more clients and allows us to better collaborate with the PSC and other state-of-the-art NSU clinics. The therapists at BTI are master’s and doctoral family therapy students in Nova Southeastern University’s Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS). As part of their graduate training, they receive in-depth instruction in the theoretical underpinnings and therapeutic techniques of brief therapy. They also actively participate on therapy teams, offering help to families, couples, and individuals who are struggling with personal problems and interpersonal conflicts. The therapy teams at BTI are comprised of a faculty supervisor and five or six master’s or doctoral-level therapists. As one of the team members—a designated primary therapist—works directly with the clients, the others join the supervisor in an observation room behind a one-way mirror. The two rooms are connected by telephone, so, as the session proceeds, the supervisor and team may call the therapist, making observations and posing questions. Our clients are always told of our team approach when they call to schedule their first appointment. We inform them that, with their permission, we will be videotaping their sessions, and we always give them the option of meeting the team prior to beginning therapy (or later on, if that would help them feel more comfortable). Most clients welcome the idea of having six or seven professionals working together on their behalf, and they usually don’t mind being videotaped; however, if they aren’t comfortable with one or the both of these practices, we offer them the opportunity of working with a “team-free,” “non-videotaping” therapist. Typically, the primary therapist on a team takes a consultation break 2/3 of the way through the session to brainstorm ideas with his or her supervisor and colleagues. After the consultation, the therapist takes the results back to the clients, sharing the team’s views and offering one or more suggestions for what the clients might try doing differently prior to their next appointment. After the clients leave, the team meets again with the therapist to process what occurred during the session and to plan for the next one. Such “live supervision” of cases serves multiple purposes. The primary therapist receives ongoing, immediate feedback on his or her work. Team members behind the mirror are able to experience the session without having to conduct it, allowing them to learn from an intense, but non-demanding perspective. The supervisor is able to see clearly what the therapist is doing and how the clients are responding, making it possible to offer clear and relevant support and direction. And the family is able to receive cutting-edge, non-pathologizing therapeutic involvement from committed professionals. The Family Therapy faculty supervisors at BTI train therapists in a variety of brief-therapy models (including Solution-focused, MRI, Narrative, Relational, and Ericksonian), but all share foundational assumptions about clients and the process of therapeutic change:
BTI now has a new location. Click here to find out more! Ph:(954) 262-3030 |
