Meta-Therapy and the Mind-Body Connection in Behavioral Communication Change

Presented by: Leah B. Helou, PhD, CCC-SLP

Meta-therapy refers to the nuanced clinical dialogue that expert clinicians employ to helppatients build a conceptual framework onto which direct therapy techniques can be pinned.Historically lumped into the “black box” of Counseling & Education, good meta-therapy is likelymuch of what separates expert clinicians from novices, thus it should be explicitly taught tonew clinicians. Meta-therapy may be delivered in many forms, including analogies, spiels,metaphors, and direct instruction. In this offering, meta-therapy will be defined and described,and example dialogues of meta-therapy in voice, stuttering, dysphagia, and cognitivecommunication therapy will be presented.