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Yes. It was a brand new client I’d never seen before, and he wanted me to see more of him than I was ready for!I knew from his intake form that he was Australian, and had come to Virginia for an IT job. He was tall and lanky and wore a baseball cap and Hawaiian shirt.As he sat down on my slightly scuffed cream leather sofa, he started to quickly unbutton his shirt, and was reaching for his belt. Seconds passed before I was able to come up with the following highly empathic, brilliantly therapeutic intervention, expressing profound and unconditional positive regard:What are you doing!!! You can’t take your clothes off in here!I admit it. That’s what I said. Later I thought of all the things I could have said, but Carl Rogers would have congratulated me for concreteness and genuineness, I like to think. Probably not, but I like to think that.Anyhow, the client said calmly, “Would it be OK if I just took my shirt off? I’d feel more comfortable if I took my shirt off.”Still in full empathy mode, I blurted, “No!”Subdued, he ventured “Shoes?”Normally I’d be OK with shoes, but I just shook my head no.I would like to tell you that I quickly figured out what the disrobing was about, and what it meant, but I still have no clue. Neither did my peer supervisor, though he did remind me of the nude psychotherapy movement, and guessed the guy might have been involved in that earlier and made assumptions. I thought that was a huge stretch. (Yes, it was a thing: Nude psychotherapy - Wikipedia.)There’s no doubt in my mind that another therapist, someone a lot more talented than I am, could have handled that situation creatively and brilliantly and made it a powerful therapeutic event.

Not sure what type of law your practice but there are a few out there.Client Intake: Lexicata is in beta but is supposed to be really easy for sending electronic client intake formsCase/Practice Management: Clio is a great software for about $70/user/mo or my company Litigo (in beta) but we are a free, bare-bones alternative if you're price sensitiveFastcase and Westlaw are great for legal research as well as a new, up and coming data visualization powered search called Ravel Law which is pretty coolEssentials: Dropbox, Box, Evernote are all web-based options for note taking and document storage though a good case management software (Clio, Litigo) will do this as welleDiscovery: EverLaw has some amazing algorithms that can cut through tons of data very quicklyThat's about all I can think of off the top of my head....hope that helps!

I love this question because the person asking it wants to learn and grow and be a better therapist, so I’m delighted to offer my two cents.The one thing I always said when training clergy, or counselors, or any helping professional was:DON’T ASK ANY QUESTIONS FOR AT LEAST A YEARQuestion marks are shaped like a hook for a reason. They say “Don’t talk about what you want to talk about, talk about what I want to hear.”Yes, I know a medical doctor needs to get a good history quickly, and is trained to do that , but a even a physician can often be more effective by reducing the number of questions to increasing the number of leading statements. My doctor rarely asks a question, but his prompts get me to spill my guts in the first five minutes. He’d be a good therapist.You know the best way help that human across from you, likely someone in pain, isn’t to make them give you information you desire? Consider that you will learn much more about the person when he/she trusts you to listen with empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard?The only thing worse than a therapist asking a lot of questions is a therapist giving gratuitous, generic advice with a lot of “shoulds” in it.JUST STOP THE QUESTIONS AND START MAKING EMPATHIC STATEMENTSThat includes the first session, when you have the intake form they’ve completed in your hand. Try things like “I notice you completed every item very carefully” or “I see you skipped the family section.” Create openings with your observations, openings that the client can take in various directions. Later, lead more “I’m a little confused about the job thing. . .” “I see you only had two sessions with your last therapist. . .” I promise that if you avoid questions for your first year in the job, and learn to make statements instead, you’ll be amazed how much information you get, and giving the information will be therapeutic for the client right away too.BE GENTLE WITH YOURSELFI don’t think for a moment that you lack empathy, which is indispensable for a counselor. You only lack skill. Of course! You are an intern. I see you are aware of your growing edge, that you reach out for guidance. You’ve chosen an amazing, awesome profession. Learn everything you can from the people around you during your training. It’s their job to help you grow and develop, and they probably love doing it too.