SPRINGFIELD, VIRGINIA — Single-session therapy, a model that gives clients 60 minutes to tackle a specific mental health problem with a counselor, has become more common as a way to fill gaps in access to mental health care, according to a psychology professor. The approach draws clients who face barriers to traditional weekly therapy, including costs that can reach several hundred dollars a month and long waiting lists even for those with insurance.

Just before the holidays in 2025, Julie Hart of Springfield, Virginia, felt stuck because of a problem she had struggled with for years. She tried single-session counseling instead of weekly therapy sessions. "It helped me get unstuck, is how I would describe it, in a very positive, meaningful and effective way," Hart said.

The format involves a single session, typically an hour, where a counselor helps the client identify concrete steps toward relieving a specific problem. Rather than performing a full assessment of a client's past and current circumstances, the counselor targets a specific issue. The intention is to help clients walk away with a toolbox of strategies to approach a problem rather than completely solve it. At the end of the session, the client leaves with a written plan of steps to alleviate the targeted problem.

"Even if we doubled miraculously the number of trained mental health professionals overnight, we still wouldn't come anywhere close to meeting the need for mental health support," said Jessica Schleider, a psychology professor and founding director of the Lab for Scalable Mental Health. "It's a really elegant solution to get people support they need at the moment that need arises."

The most common number of therapy sessions people receive is one, according to a psychology professor, because many people start and do not return. A meta-analysis of 415 clinical trials by the Lab for Scalable Mental Health found that single-session approaches reduced mental health difficulties across problems including depression and anxiety for both youth and adults.

Sharon Thomas, a psychologist and director of single-session therapy at the Ross Center, said the model operates on the expectation that every client brings strengths that will help them address their issue. "That the client will be able to have meaningful change in their life, and that we'll see an improvement in both their self-efficacy and a decline in their symptoms in just one visit," Thomas said.

"Not everyone wants to discuss childhood trauma. It's very much focused on what the client wants to focus on in that moment," Thomas said.

Single-session therapy often attracts clients who are skeptical about whether traditional therapy is right for them. Counselors still have an obligation to screen for risk of self-harm, and many people with chronic mental health issues could benefit from traditional therapy or medication, according to a psychology professor.

Hart said the strategies she received were effective. "Those strategies made all kinds of sense. But you can't identify them when you're in it," she said. Hart continued to feel better months after her session and felt more confident because she knew she could return for another appointment.