The aim of this article is to highlight the best practices that allow the therapist to optimize the effectiveness of a single session, creating the relational context that is essential for supporting the person on their path toward change.
What Makes Us Say That Single Session Therapy Is Effective?
As we know, change is the ultimate goal of any psychotherapy process, but pursuing it in just one session can seem ambitious without a method and a structure to follow.
The study of Single Session Therapy and of “one-at-a-time” interventions has shown us that, by identifying the best practices for a potential single intervention, we can increase the chances that that one session will be enough to help people. Naturally, to achieve this, the therapist must be the first to approach the session as if it were the only one, adopting a mindset that helps them make the most of the actual time available (CannistrĂ , 2022).
Among the principles CannistrĂ (ibid.) lists for the single-session mindset, aiming for minimal or simple interventions is important: it gives the therapist the freedom to help the client without the pressure of having to solve all of their problems or reach their ultimate goal in that very session. For this reason, guiding the person toward realistic, achievable goals is of fundamental importance for good SST.
What Is the Context of Competence?
According to Hoyt (2020; 2023), goal-setting is one of the fundamental elements in every form of therapy, together with the person’s resources and the therapeutic alliance. These three factors are essential for effective therapy and together create what he calls the Context of Competence.
The context of competence is the ground the therapist must cultivate so that the client can move from a feeling of failure to one of empowerment and self-efficacy. We could compare the context of competence to the well-known zone of proximal development described by Vygotsky (Vygotsky & Cole, 1978), in which the educator provides the best possible learning conditions through scaffolding that allows the learner’s potential to flourish.
What Do the Two Fields Have in Common?
Although they belong to different domains — education and clinical practice — what these two concepts share is a relational nature that fosters change, placing the focus on the person’s intrinsic potential. However, while the zone of proximal development is concerned with what the person has yet to learn to do, therapy places the emphasis on the competencies the person already has and must apply to their problem.
How Does the Therapist Act?
The therapist must therefore be able to elicit the resources the person already possesses in service of their goal. This process will be effective to the extent that a solid therapeutic alliance has been established — in other words, to the extent that a good relationship with the patient has been built.
According to Hoyt (in CannistrĂ & Hoyt, 2025), for change to happen, none of these three dimensions can be missing: therapy takes place where Goals, Resources, and Alliance intersect. If you have the goal and a good alliance but no access to resources, nothing happens. If you have the resources and the alliance but no goal, there is no direction. And if the person can access both resources and goals without an alliance, it means they don’t need a therapist at all!
Why Is the Context of Competence Important in Single Session Therapy?
Keeping these three factors in mind throughout a single session is essential if we want that session to bring the person some real benefit.
And here we come back to the mindset: if the therapist believes that a good alliance cannot be built in just one meeting, or that there isn’t enough time for the goal and the resources to emerge, the session starts off on the wrong foot.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the therapist must act as a facilitator of the context of competence and trust in the patient’s resources, cultivating genuine curiosity about what the patient believes could help them solve their problem. Authentic attention to the client’s own theory of change, together with the skillful use of reformulation, ultimately strengthens the therapeutic bond. This lays the groundwork for the turning point: hope for improvement is rekindled, and the feeling of failure gives way to the awareness of not being “wrong.” Above all, what emerges is the confidence to take action and move beyond the impasse.
Consuelo Del Grande
Psychologist,Specialized
 Systemic-Strategic Brief Therapy
at the ICNOS Institute
References
Cannistrà , F. (2022). The Single Session Therapy Mindset. Fourteen Principles Gained Through an Analysis of the Literature. International Journal of Brief Therapy and Family Science, 12(1), 1-26.
Cannistrà , F., & Hoyt, M. F. (Eds.). (2025). Single session therapies: Why and how one-at-a-time mindsets are effective. Taylor & Francis.
Hoyt, M. F., & Cannistrà , F. (2023). Conversazioni di terapia breve. Esplorando interventi efficaci in psicoterapia. EPC Editore.
Hoyt, M. F. (2020). Psicoterapie brevi. Principi e pratiche. CISU.
Vygotsky, L. S., & Cole, M. (1978). Mind in society: Development of higher psychological processes. Harvard university press.