From Waiting Lists to Walk-In: Stories from a Walk-In Therapy Clinic

At Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) we receive many requests from other agencies all over Ontario for information about the details of how we created and set up our walk-in therapy clinics. In response to this we have written this article that describes our concept of a walk-in clinic, the preparatory steps we took to open the clinics, details of the process and the paperwork, as well as a summary of the evaluations we receive back from clients who have attended our clinics. We describe the foundational philosophy and assumptions that inform the therapy conversations at the clinics and how these unifying beliefs connect our work but also create the possibility for a diversity of therapeutic practices. There are many ways of working present at our clinics: narrative, solution focused, and cognitive behavioral therapies to name a few. The stories included in this article are guided by these three different therapy approaches and “bring to life” the range of ways of working illustrating the possibilities for useful conversations with people who attend the clinic. Therefore further aims of this article are to show that when people “walk-in,” with some very minimal information gathered by brief questionnaires that a therapy session is both possible and useful, and that a range of therapy approaches can guide the therapy sessions.