To give our readers a better sense of what an effective mental health treatment plan looks like, I have been recreating a treatment plan here through a series of blog posts. To see other posts in the Mental Health Treatment Plan series, please click here.

The next section of the mental health treatment plan is called Schedule of Services. Don’t let the simplicity and the brevity of this section fool you. It is every bit as important as the other parts. Basically the schedule of services outlines or lists your therapy session schedule and frequency as well as the schedule and frequency of any other therapy or service that is helping to address your problems.

Of course any schedules are subject to change. In fact, I would be surprised if your schedules didn’t change over the course of therapy. During therapy, as you do more intense work, the frequency of your sessions might increase, and as you improve, the frequency will usually decrease.

Also, for many patients, the regularity of services is as important as the services themselves. Sometimes, making it to the next appointment can become an important goal and achievement.

Alexis

For Alexis, we decided that she would have weekly sessions on Wednesdays, from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 A.M. We also referenced the voice lessons and possibly choir practice that we had discussed previously and decided to include their schedule in this section as soon as she figures out her schedule with her teacher. Although this activity is not overtly clinical, I believe it will help her not only develop confidence, but the interaction with her teacher and the choir could help alleviate some symptoms of her depression.

Additionally, I ask Alexis to schedule an appointment with a psychiatrist for an evaluation. If he prescribes an antidepressant (something I do not foresee), then we will include the schedule of her appointments with her psychiatrist who will then have to monitor her medication and adjust dosages if necessary.

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    Last reviewed: 22 Mar 2010