APPLICATIONS OF COMPANIONSHIP THERAPY MODEL

For the practicing psychotherapist, Companionship  Therapy        suggests ways in  which the therapist’s role may be expanded.    Traditional practitioners seem excessively  role-bound by a number of  now  arbitrary  anachronisms:  the fifty-minute hour, the  formal   office setting, professional distance, and circumscribed notions  of         what client activities  are  therapeutic. Hopefully,  thecompanionship model will provide  an  impetus towards  a  therapeuticrepertoire of  greater breadth and flexibility  from  a  broader perspective, Companionship Therapy is an  example of the trend  toward  de-professionalizing mental health delivery, which Sobey (1970)  has aptly labeled “the non-professional  revolution.”  Companionship  and  similarprograms are proliferating.  Various formats  have  been  used:  interracial pairs, elderly pairs, college   students  with chronic  mental patients, and such crossage pairings  as high school students with younger  children, and parent-child dyads. A  current  direction  is to  train   preexisting  pairings — couples, friendships, and  working  relationships —  in  interpersonal skills. This capitalizes on an  already  existing  companionship, adding …