Like many other psychologists on this site, in most cases I would offer the client long-term work. And I would do therapy. But there are times when the client cannot. For example, he is leaving town soon. Or just not ready. So, I continue the conversation about the possibilities of counseling. When deciding whether counseling is suitable for a client as a form of work, you need to be aware of how much he controls his own behavior and adequately assesses his condition. It is useless to consult with a girl suffering from anorexia in the hope that she will decide to gain weight. Most likely, this is exactly what she is afraid of. But even if she understands the severity of her condition, her behavior is obsessive; she can't stop. She does not need a consultant, but a psychotherapist, as well as a doctor (since anorexia can be deadly). It is also useless to have counseling conversations with a drug addict, discussing the choice: “to quit or not.” A drug addict needs, first of all, a narcologist, and only then can a psychotherapist come in handy. So, a client who can cope with the problem, because the problem lies more in the circumstances than in his personal characteristics and difficulties, may be recommended for longer counseling (several meetings). A client who cannot cope with a problem on his own should honestly indicate that the problem requires deeper and longer-term work. If the psychologist has trained in psychotherapy, he can offer the client to continue working in a different format; If you haven’t trained, you should know the specialists that clients can turn to in such cases. When a client needs the help of a doctor (for example, a narcologist or a psychiatrist), he must be told about it. About the same can be said about children. Some communication problems with a child, which arise mainly due to pedagogical illiteracy or incompetence of the parent, can be resolved with the parent in a counseling format. If a child is having problems because of “the way he is” (eg, aggressive), child psychotherapy is advisable. Also, no matter how much you consult a parent, he, not being a specialist, will not relieve the child of symptoms (for example, a phobia). Psychotherapy will also be required here. For an adequately functioning family, whose problem depends more on the circumstances than on the problems of the family system, family counseling can be recommended). It will not help a dysfunctional family; Here, family psychotherapy is desirable (if it is available and the family agrees to it) or individual therapeutic work with family members. Some family problems may require the help of not only a psychologist, but also other specialists: a doctor (as already mentioned), a lawyer, a social worker. So, based on the results of the first consultation and assessment of the problem, the psychologist decides whether the client needs to recommend other types of work or other specialists ( sometimes the assessment may take more than one meeting). In counseling work, the psychologist is left with an adequately functioning client who is able to solve the problem on his own (but requires the help of a specialist), and they agree on several consultations. Before agreeing to work together, it is important to determine its purpose: what the client wants to achieve as a result (request). Not every client’s desire can be accepted as a goal of counseling. The request for work should be realistic (For example, you should not expect that, as a result of counseling, the client and psychologist will develop some kind of magic speech, when uttered, the client will achieve complete obedience of the children). The goal should be achievable in a counseling format (“I want to become more restrained, less impulsive,” this is a request, but only for psychotherapy). The request should concern the client himself, and not someone else who is not in the psychologist’s office (“I want to change my wife” is not a request). Examples of requests: “For some reason, other family members are offended by me. I want to understand what I’m doing wrong.” “I want to decide:.