Tom Caplan, M.S., M.A., M.S.W., P.S.W., I.C.A.D.C., A.A.M.F.T.

• Adjunct Professor: McGill University School of Social Work
• Director and Supervisor: McGill Domestic Violence Clinic
• Director and Supervisor: Montreal Anger Management Centre
• Director: Group Work Trainers of Montreal
• Clinical Director: Montreal Psychotherapy Centre
• CERTIFICATIONS / SPECIALIZATIONS: Marriage and Family Therapy (Supervisor), Forensic, Substance Abuse, Violence

 

Tom Caplan is a social worker in private practice. He has had extensive experience counselling individuals, couples, families and groups.

Tom Caplan makes every effort to accomplish this in as short a time as possible so that his clients can get on with their lives quickly and effectively.

Caplan, T. (2008). Needs ABC: A Needs Acquisition and Behavior Change Model for Group Work and Other Psychotherapies. London: Whiting & Birch.

Helping professionals have used various psychotherapeutic models to interpret clients' apparent needs and motivate them toward behavior change.

The Needs-ABC Model is distinguished by its emphasis on the emotion-focused relational needs behind maladaptive behaviours, rather than the behaviours themselves, and by its flexibility in terms of applications to clients in a range of personal and therapeutic settings.

Things to consider:

• Most therapy models can help clients to stop their inappropriate behaviours
• Most therapy models have difficulty helping clients to stay stopped.
• Most therapy models can not help client recognize why they started in the first place, e.g.What are the specific triggers: Concrete & Emotional.
  Buy Tom Caplan’s new therapy book!
  
  It is innovative, practical and user-friendly.
  
  Buy at Amazon.com or Whiting & Birch
  

  
  
  

  
  

  
  Book Excerpt
  Given just how important first contact is, it is surprising how little has actually been written about how to cope with a client in this setting! Unsurprisingly, first contact with a therapist is not a situation in which it is easy to be open and honest about one’s problems, and it is common, if not typical, for individuals to be guarded, nervous and defensive. They may feel that in seeking therapy they are displaying weakness, worry that their problems make them seem abnormal or “weird” and fear that the therapist will dismiss them or suggest that there is something gravely wrong with their way of being. All of the above is magnified in the case of those who are attending group or another form of therapy involuntarily. Even when meeting clients who present themselves willingly, however, one should not expect the absence of defensiveness about the very notion of therapy. We all know that emotions are complex, and even those who openly state that they require help may be resistant on other, deeper, levels. Knowing on an intellectual level that one needs help is not the same as feeling it.
  Let’s look at an example of a client presenting for a first screening with apparently deep-rooted ambivalence.
  
  

  Ethel is a 41-year-old woman, married for the third time, with no children of her own. She has been a heavy drinker for many years, and although she is still attractive, the toll that alcohol abuse has taken on her health is very evident in her circled eyes, worn skin and general air of defeat. She is well-dressed and presentable, but beneath her cologne the stale smell of the habitual alcoholic is perceptible.
  The first contact that Ethel has with her group therapist is by phone. She waits until the house is empty. She takes a shower and changes her clothes before calling. While she waits for the phone to be answered, she chews on a finger nail.
  When the substance abuse intake counsellor answers and asks Ethel what she can do for her, Ethel’s words come out so quickly that they seem to tumble over each other.
  “It’s my husband, Ted. He asked me to leave.”
  “Why is that?”
  “Well, I was hitting him. I’d had too much to drink. The kids started to cry. Then he said he’d had enough. I’m staying with my mother and he says he won’t take me back until I sort myself out and stop drinking. In fact, he said it’s even too late for that now.”
  Originally from Britain, Ethel had come to Canada with her mother many years before. She describes her mother as “selfish” and “unsupportive”, even though it was to her mother’s house she fled when Ted told her she must leave. Ted has filed for divorce and told her that if she wishes to see her stepchildren, of whom she is very fond, she will have to have counselling. Ted has told her that she is “crazy” when she drinks hard liquor and that he doesn’t want “someone like that” around his kids.
  Although Ethel agrees to enter treatment, she’s bringing a lot of baggage with her. If she enters treatment, this will be her fourth time. She’s seen someone about her alcoholism on three separate occasions, once before and twice after her marriage to Ted. On one of those occasions, she went after Ted presented her with an ultimatum. Now, at least on the surface, Ethel seems to really want to seek treatment. She has even enrolled with AA and has started to attend AA meetings on a regular basis. Now facing middle age, she seems to feel that it’s “make or break,” even if her physical and verbal abuse of Ted has destroyed her marriage.
  

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