Single Session Consultation
The SSC is a solution-focused, human-delivered consultation designed to help people take a small but meaningful step toward a future they want.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Single-Session Consultation?
The Single-Session Consultation, or SSC, is a 15- to 60-minute, solution-focused consultation. A trained provider helps the person choose one specific concern or goal, identify strengths and supports they can draw on, and create a practical action plan they can begin right away.
What happens during a Single-Session Consultation?
The SSC begins by helping an individual identify their top problem and top hope for the consultation. Together, the provider and the recipient narrow that hope into a concrete focus for the consultation. The provider uses questions and strategies drawn from solution-focused brief therapy to help that person:
The SSC is designed to make a single encounter useful on its own. It can also serve as a bridge to ongoing services or a complement to other forms of care.
Who can benefit from the Single-Session Consultation?
The SSC is designed for adolescents and adults who want focused support with a problem, decision, or goal. It has been studied with participants ages 11 and older, as well as parents of younger children. It has been used with people experiencing wide-ranging concerns such as anxiety, depression, hopelessness, relationship distress, life transitions, and barriers to making desired change.
A specific mental health diagnosis is not required to receive an SSC. The program is built around the recipient’s specific goal rather than a diagnosis. As such, it is intended to support people with widely varying needs, including individuals who do not meet criteria for a disorder, have not yet received a comprehensive clinical assessment, do not want formal treatment, are waiting to start treatment, or just want help with a specific concern. The SSC does not replace emergency or crisis care when immediate safety support is needed; our lab works with organizations to integrate the SSC into their existing safety, referral, and escalation procedures.
What does the evidence show?
Clinical trials and program evaluations of in-person and telehealth SSC delivery have shown:
Collectively, results are promising, and size and strength of effects vary across studies, populations, outcomes, and follow-up periods. We continue to research when, where, and for whom the SSC is most helpful.
How can the SSC be used in practice?
The SSC is flexible by design. It can be offered as a stand-alone service, a same-day or drop-in option, a bridge while someone waits for ongoing care, or an added support within an existing program. It can be delivered in-person, over the phone, or by telehealth.
Our lab and partners have delivered, evaluated, or implemented the SSC across:
The best workflow for the SSC depends on the setting and population needs. Our implementation partnerships can address referral pathways, scheduling, documentation, safety procedures, population fit, local adaptation, fidelity monitoring, and long-term sustainment.
Who can deliver the SSC?
Licensed mental health professionals, supervised trainees, and non-licensed providers with relevant roles and local oversight have learned to deliver the SSC to fidelity. The provider’s scope of practice, supervision, and associated responsibilities must be defined by the organization and applicable local requirements.
Introductory exposure to the SSC alone is not enough to establish practice readiness. In our experience training more than 800 providers worldwide, structured practice and individualized feedback are essential for high-fidelity delivery of the Single-Session Consultation.
What SSC materials are openly available?
We make introductory SSC materials freely available through Open Science Framework. These materials include an overview of the model, introductory training slides, and an action-plan worksheet. They are intended to help people understand the SSC and support research, planning, and early exploration: https://osf.io/xnz2t/
The open materials do not constitute a full, practice-ready SSC training. They do not include the curated and setting-adapted provider resource library, structured mock SSC practice and individualized fidelity feedback, ongoing implementation consultation, or materials to support competency in training or supervising other providers delivering the SSC.
How does the Lab for Scalable Mental Health support SSC training and implementation?
The lab offers several levels of support. Every provider training pathway starts with Practice-Ready SSC Training. Organizations or groups may also add implementation consultation, ongoing clinical consultation for some or all practice-ready SSC providers, or a Train-the-Trainer pathway to establish an internal training pipeline for new SSC providers. We work with individual clinicians and organizations of all sizes to identify the training pathway that best fits their setting, workforce, and implementation goals.
Interested in SSC training or implementation support?
Tell us about your organization, population, setting, and goals. We’ll help you identify a training and implementation pathway that fits your needs! Please fill out our partnerships form here.
Organizations with fidelity-verified, practice-ready SSC providers
Clinicians through the organizations listed below completed the Lab for Scalable Mental Health’s full Practice-Ready SSC training and demonstrated SSC delivery to fidelity using standardized metrics. Please note the logos are clickable:
The Single-Session Consultation, or SSC, is a 15- to 60-minute, solution-focused consultation. A trained provider helps the person choose one specific concern or goal, identify strengths and supports they can draw on, and create a practical action plan they can begin right away.
What happens during a Single-Session Consultation?
The SSC begins by helping an individual identify their top problem and top hope for the consultation. Together, the provider and the recipient narrow that hope into a concrete focus for the consultation. The provider uses questions and strategies drawn from solution-focused brief therapy to help that person:
- Notice their existing strengths, coping strategies, and inner sources of support;
- Define what meaningful improvement could look like in everyday life;
- Identify three small steps that feel useful, concrete, and feasible; and
- Leave with a personalized action plan for their best next step.
The SSC is designed to make a single encounter useful on its own. It can also serve as a bridge to ongoing services or a complement to other forms of care.
Who can benefit from the Single-Session Consultation?
The SSC is designed for adolescents and adults who want focused support with a problem, decision, or goal. It has been studied with participants ages 11 and older, as well as parents of younger children. It has been used with people experiencing wide-ranging concerns such as anxiety, depression, hopelessness, relationship distress, life transitions, and barriers to making desired change.
A specific mental health diagnosis is not required to receive an SSC. The program is built around the recipient’s specific goal rather than a diagnosis. As such, it is intended to support people with widely varying needs, including individuals who do not meet criteria for a disorder, have not yet received a comprehensive clinical assessment, do not want formal treatment, are waiting to start treatment, or just want help with a specific concern. The SSC does not replace emergency or crisis care when immediate safety support is needed; our lab works with organizations to integrate the SSC into their existing safety, referral, and escalation procedures.
What does the evidence show?
Clinical trials and program evaluations of in-person and telehealth SSC delivery have shown:
- Reductions in hopelessness, anxiety, distress, and depressive symptoms across multiple studies and service contexts;
- Improvements in readiness for change and agency (i.e., a person’s sense that they can influence some part of their situation);
- High satisfaction and acceptability;
- A strong working alliance established within a single encounter; and
- High-fidelity delivery by licensed mental health professionals, supervised trainees, and trained non-licensed providers (e.g. peer specialists)
Collectively, results are promising, and size and strength of effects vary across studies, populations, outcomes, and follow-up periods. We continue to research when, where, and for whom the SSC is most helpful.
How can the SSC be used in practice?
The SSC is flexible by design. It can be offered as a stand-alone service, a same-day or drop-in option, a bridge while someone waits for ongoing care, or an added support within an existing program. It can be delivered in-person, over the phone, or by telehealth.
Our lab and partners have delivered, evaluated, or implemented the SSC across:
- Outpatient therapy waitlists and community behavioral health clinics
- Inpatient, residential, and outpatient care settings;
- Hospitals and health systems;
- Employee assistance and workplace mental health programs;
- Schools and other youth-serving settings;
- State public health and community service systems;
- Crisis and single-session support centers; and
- Global mental health settings, including programs in Puerto Rico and Uganda
The best workflow for the SSC depends on the setting and population needs. Our implementation partnerships can address referral pathways, scheduling, documentation, safety procedures, population fit, local adaptation, fidelity monitoring, and long-term sustainment.
Who can deliver the SSC?
Licensed mental health professionals, supervised trainees, and non-licensed providers with relevant roles and local oversight have learned to deliver the SSC to fidelity. The provider’s scope of practice, supervision, and associated responsibilities must be defined by the organization and applicable local requirements.
Introductory exposure to the SSC alone is not enough to establish practice readiness. In our experience training more than 800 providers worldwide, structured practice and individualized feedback are essential for high-fidelity delivery of the Single-Session Consultation.
What SSC materials are openly available?
We make introductory SSC materials freely available through Open Science Framework. These materials include an overview of the model, introductory training slides, and an action-plan worksheet. They are intended to help people understand the SSC and support research, planning, and early exploration: https://osf.io/xnz2t/
The open materials do not constitute a full, practice-ready SSC training. They do not include the curated and setting-adapted provider resource library, structured mock SSC practice and individualized fidelity feedback, ongoing implementation consultation, or materials to support competency in training or supervising other providers delivering the SSC.
How does the Lab for Scalable Mental Health support SSC training and implementation?
The lab offers several levels of support. Every provider training pathway starts with Practice-Ready SSC Training. Organizations or groups may also add implementation consultation, ongoing clinical consultation for some or all practice-ready SSC providers, or a Train-the-Trainer pathway to establish an internal training pipeline for new SSC providers. We work with individual clinicians and organizations of all sizes to identify the training pathway that best fits their setting, workforce, and implementation goals.
- Practice-Ready SSC Training: Providers complete a 90-minute foundational training led by senior lab members, modified for each implementation setting; a live, structured, mock SSC session; and receive individualized feedback on SSC delivery using standardized fidelity metrics. Providers who demonstrate fidelity receive a Practice-Ready SSC Training completion certificate, completion language, a certificate, and continual access to our full digital library of SSC provider resources. Practice-ready completion indicates readiness to begin SSC delivery with appropriate local oversight; it does not prepare providers to train others.
- Implementation Partnerships: To augment Practice-Ready SSC Training, organizations may add administrative and clinical consultation support to support setting-specific SSC workflow integration strategy, referral pathways, documentation, population fit, fidelity monitoring tools, and plans for SSC sustainment.
- Train-the-Trainer support: Organizations that want to build internal SSC training capacity can select experienced, practice-ready SSC providers for additional coaching and trainer resources. This pathway supports internal training, fidelity monitoring, and prevention of model drift within the participating organization.
Interested in SSC training or implementation support?
Tell us about your organization, population, setting, and goals. We’ll help you identify a training and implementation pathway that fits your needs! Please fill out our partnerships form here.
Organizations with fidelity-verified, practice-ready SSC providers
Clinicians through the organizations listed below completed the Lab for Scalable Mental Health’s full Practice-Ready SSC training and demonstrated SSC delivery to fidelity using standardized metrics. Please note the logos are clickable:
Publications
Schleider, J. L., Sung, J. Y., Bianco, A., Gonzalez, A., Vivian, D., & Mullarkey, M. C. (2021). Open pilot trial of a single-session consultation service for clients on psychotherapy wait-lists. The Behavior Therapist, 44(1), 8-15. open_pilot_trial_ssc_clients_on_psych_waitlists.pdf
Kasujja, R., Sotomayor, I., Birungi, P., Ndeezi, M., Szkody, E., & Schleider, J. L. (2026). Open Pilot Trial of a Single Session Consultation Service for Clients at StrongMinds Uganda. Mental Health Science, 4(3), e70056. https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.70056
Sung, J., Bugatti, M., Vivian, D., & Schleider, J. (2023). Evaluating a telehealth single-session consultation service for clients on psychotherapy wait-lists. Practice Innovations. 8(2), 141–161. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000207
Sung, J. Y., Sotomayor, I., Szkody, E., & Schleider, J. L. (2025). Provider hesitancy toward single-session interventions for mental health problems: Malleability and implications for adoption in routine care settings. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000274
Capó, Z., Lui, N., Mao, J., Schleider, J. L., Muscente, K. K., & Chacko, A. (2026). Preliminary Outcomes of a Telehealth-Delivered Solution Focused Brief Therapy-Single-Session Consultation for Highly Stressed Parents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 35(4), 891-904. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-026-03285-2
Irgens, M. S., McPhee, J., Czopp, A., McBride, E., Del Cid, M. V., Szkody, E., ... & Folk, J. B. (2026). Single-session consultations delivered in a gender-responsive clinic: A case series on implementation and lessons learned. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31(3), 1034-1046. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045261431344
Kasujja, R., Sotomayor, I., Birungi, P., Ndeezi, M., Szkody, E., & Schleider, J. L. (2026). Open Pilot Trial of a Single Session Consultation Service for Clients at StrongMinds Uganda. Mental Health Science, 4(3), e70056. https://doi.org/10.1002/mhs2.70056
Sung, J., Bugatti, M., Vivian, D., & Schleider, J. (2023). Evaluating a telehealth single-session consultation service for clients on psychotherapy wait-lists. Practice Innovations. 8(2), 141–161. https://doi.org/10.1037/pri0000207
Sung, J. Y., Sotomayor, I., Szkody, E., & Schleider, J. L. (2025). Provider hesitancy toward single-session interventions for mental health problems: Malleability and implications for adoption in routine care settings. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1037/cps0000274
Capó, Z., Lui, N., Mao, J., Schleider, J. L., Muscente, K. K., & Chacko, A. (2026). Preliminary Outcomes of a Telehealth-Delivered Solution Focused Brief Therapy-Single-Session Consultation for Highly Stressed Parents. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 35(4), 891-904. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-026-03285-2
Irgens, M. S., McPhee, J., Czopp, A., McBride, E., Del Cid, M. V., Szkody, E., ... & Folk, J. B. (2026). Single-session consultations delivered in a gender-responsive clinic: A case series on implementation and lessons learned. Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 31(3), 1034-1046. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591045261431344