The Value of Completing Session Feedback Forms
Howdy! It’s your Client Journey Liaison Sam here— and today I want to share a little bit about an important (and underrated!) part of your client journey here at the Gaia Center: Session Feedback Forms! (we’ll call ‘em SFFs for short ✏️📄)
You’re likely familiar with that email you get after each session— but if you’re anything like me, fielding every random email that flies into your inbox and filling out satisfaction surveys from businesses are… very far down your priority list. 😵💫
Of course not everyone wants to fill out a survey— especially right as you're getting in the car to go home from therapy (but for all you SFF completionists - we see you and we appreciate you 🤩). We get it, it’s easy to ignore - and maybe even easier to ignore when you don’t know what the heck it really is, so let’s talk about it.
SFF FAQs (say that five times fast)
What even is the Session Feedback Form?
If you’ve never opened it, here is the SFF in all its glory— no more mysteries! 🔎
(If you have been completing them, you’ll notice we’ve spruced it up just a bit. 🌲)
That’s it! Five questions, and two of them are optional.
What is the Session Feedback Form used for?
First and foremost, we want the SFF to be another space for your voice to be heard. Of course, you can always share feedback with your therapist directly, even in session, but we find having a secondary space specifically designed for feedback-sharing to be useful - especially for those who may be a little nervous to share feedback or for when you are reflecting on a session after the fact.
These session feedback forms are a big part of how we practice Feedback-Informed Therapy*. For my fellow nerds out there, recent research shows clients whose clinicians use FIT on an ongoing basis are 2.5 times more likely to experience benefit from therapy.
It’s all part of encouraging a culture of feedback and client/therapist collaboration within our practice. Also, we won’t lie, it’s a huge bright spot in our day as therapists to see a kind, thoughtful response to a SFF. 🥹
*Note that we tend to modify things to best fit our unique philosophy and approach, so we prefer the term “Feedback Informed Therapy” to “Feedback Informated Treatment” since not everything we do is about “treating” mental health issues. We also often use these forms for coaching clients too, though we’ll just use the terms therapist/therapy in this article for simplicity.
Who sees my responses?
Primarily, your therapist. Additionally, our Clinical Director, Val, and our Director of Operations, Rebecca, may see your SFF. This is to ensure your input as a client is being considered at a higher level; if you have a concern or issue with your therapist, we want to make sure we’re addressing it. On the flip side, if you want to celebrate your therapist or a great session, we want to make sure that person is being acknowledged! No other team members within The Gaia Center have access to your SFFs.
What if I get to it too late?
That’s the best part— there’s no such thing as too late! We encourage you to complete your SFF as close to your session time as possible, but if you don’t get to it until the next day or later, that’s totally fine.
What if I don’t have anything to say?
No worries! Even completing the first 3 questions is helpful insight for your therapist to know if your sessions are going in the right direction - or that maybe they would benefit from checking in with you and course correcting if need be.
