ABSTRACT
Termination is the last phase of treatment and represents both an event and process. As an event, termination means client-therapist contact ends, and as a process it means that the client’s level of responsibility increases as the nature of the client-therapist relationship changes. Facilitating the process of terminating and preparing the client for termination is the therapist’s primary focus in the last phase of treatment. Preparing for termination is a time for clients to express their thoughts and feelings about what the therapeutic process and the therapist has meant to them, as well as an opportunity to review their progress in achieving treatment goals. It is also a time to plan for maintaining treatment gains and to anticipate the inevitable lapses and setbacks that may ensue. Finally, preparing for termination is a time to reect about what remaining therapeutic tasks clients might work on in the future and what additional therapeutic contact with the therapist or other treatment might be indicated.
