Does single session therapy work?

Jigsaw researchers have published new research exploring how single session therapy could help young people get support sooner.

Published in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, the study looked at how SST could work as a first point of contact for young people aged 12–25 accessing Jigsaw’s youth mental health service.

What is single session therapy?

Single session therapy is an approach where a young person and a clinician focus on what is most important to the young person during one dedicated session.

At Jigsaw, the approach involves some preparation before the session, a session with a clinician, and a follow-up call or video appointment around two weeks later. If a young person needs more support, further therapy can be offered.

The approach was introduced at one Jigsaw service at a time when demand for support was high and waiting lists were long. The aim was to explore whether some young people could get meaningful support sooner, without having to wait for a longer course of therapy.

So, does it work?

The research found some encouraging results, but more research is needed to understand how effective Single-Session Therapy is over time and across different services.

One of the most significant findings was the reduction in waiting times. During the pilot phase, young people were waiting around 26 weeks  for support. Following the introduction of Single-Session Therapy, this fell to 4.6 weeks.

The research also found that young people with higher levels of distress showed a significant reduction in distress between their first session and their follow-up. Satisfaction with the support remained high before and after the approach was introduced.

These findings suggest that Single-Session Therapy could offer another way for youth mental health services to respond to growing demand and help young people access support more quickly.

Continuing to learn

For Jigsaw, research is an important part of understanding what works for young people and how services can continue to improve.

This study provides encouraging early evidence that single session therapy can be used as an entry point to primary care youth mental health support. However, the researchers highlight that further research is needed to understand how effective the approach is over time and how it could be introduced and sustained across different services and settings.

As demand for youth mental health support continues to grow, exploring different ways of providing timely, evidence-informed support will remain an important part of Jigsaw’s work.

Read the research paper here.