ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the objectives of a first therapy session. Although there are universal aspects of a first session that an IST therapist will accommodate (e.g., getting acquainted, dealing with administrative issues, and assessing for risk and appropriate level of care), this chapter focuses primarily on IST-specific aspects of the first session which include describing therapy as a problem-solving process, defining the presenting problem, locating the problem in a problem sequence, obtaining information about the context of the client system, and beginning to form an alliance with all members of the client system.
