ABSTRACT
This chapter describes how a single-session model has been implemented in a Child and Youth Mental Health Service (Alfred CYMHS), a tertiary child and youth mental-health service, and in a federally-funded youth mental-health service. Alfred CYMHS is one of five state-funded services in metropolitan Melbourne covering a catchment area of around 600,000 people. Traditionally, clinical practice at Headspace has been more about individual counseling with young people rather than involving the whole family. At the point of intake, Headspace staff email information about the session and also the pre-session questionnaire which aims to seed a solution-focused approach. Working in a single-session framework requires a willingness to work with partial knowledge and relinquishment of the expert position about what change is required to alter the problems families present with and what needs to happen in order for "real change" to occur.
