Nursing Competencies: Training and Psychotherapy

Training is a key component in obtaining competency to practice specific forms of psychotherapy. Nurses require knowledge, skill, and judgment to competently practice any type of psychotherapy. The therapeutic relationship is the foundation for psychotherapy and for this reason, a solid understanding of how to establish and maintain this rapport is pertinent. Secondly, core therapeutic micro-skills are important during or before the specialization into a specific stream of psychotherapy. These include active listening, interviewing skills, conceptualization, and evaluation in order to effectively engage and motivate the client in the therapeutic alliance and treatment plan. While different modalities of psychotherapy may have their own unique theories, approaches and models, all psychotherapies share a core understanding of knowledge and skill accompanying a specific goal to improve mental health and wellness. Case conceptualization that is developed through assessment, client preferences and best available evidence-based literature, will guide treatment interventions and outcomes. Receiving training in the many specific types of psychotherapies that exist is important to give clinicians a theoretical framework from which to practice. The critical components of these programs that one should consider while looking for education to broaden their nurse psychotherapy knowledge base will be reviewed in this chapter.