Welcome to Therapy Compass
This is a field guide for therapists who have to choose a framework and act on it inside the constraints of a real session — not a textbook, not a manual. You'll find the mechanism of change for each orientation, the client presentations it engages, the ones where it backfires, and the actual moves and questions to use in the room. Use it when you're preparing and when you're choosing.
Getting Started
A 90-second orientation to the tool. Each section maps a real clinical situation to the page built for it — so you spend your time thinking about the client, not hunting the menu.
The one-sentence version
Start from the client (Client Match) or the presentation (Problems), land on the orientations that tend to engage, read the profile for the moves and the caveats, use Compare when torn, and use Session Phases when your brain blanks. The cross-cutting pages apply to every orientation.
Choose your entry point by scenario
Before a session — orient yourself
- 1Start with the presentation your client brings. Presenting Problems
- 2See which orientations tend to engage it as first-line vs. next-line. Problems
- 3Open the orientation profile for the mechanism, signals, and mismatches. Library
Choosing between two (or three) orientations
Mid-session, when your brain blanks
- 1Name the clinical moment you are in. Session Phases
- 2Read the response across orientations — pick the move that fits the frame you are in. Session Phases
Matching a new client to a starting frame
- 1Tag the client presentation with fit and contraindication tags. Client Match
- 2Read the ranked orientations as a tactical starting point, not a verdict. Client Match
The full toolkit
The full set of frameworks, each with mechanism, matches, mismatches, and moves.
OpenPresentations mapped to first-line and next-line orientations, plus red flags for stepping up.
OpenTag a client presentation; get a ranked set of orientations with fit and contraindication signals.
OpenUp to three orientations side by side across mechanism, evidence, format, and moves.
OpenClinical moments with the response each orientation would make. For mid-session blanks.
OpenMicro-skills broken out individually — the moves in your hands, not the abstractions.
OpenSpecific techniques tagged by orientation, with steps, when-to-use, and when-to-avoid.
OpenReadiness, structure, and the final conversation — how each orientation frames a good ending.
OpenHow each orientation spots, names, and repairs alliance ruptures.
OpenThe characteristic ways each orientation pulls a therapist off course — and how to catch it.
OpenWhat each framework asks of you as the instrument — the personal pulls to watch in yourself.
OpenThe normative assumptions baked into each frame — and how they can misread marginalized clients.
OpenHow to read an orientation profile
- 60-Second Brief — the mechanism of change. If you can't say it in a sentence, you don't own the framework yet.
- Signals tell you when a presentation is likely to respond; Mismatches tell you when it will backfire. Read both before you use it.
- In-Session Moves and the Question Bank are the things you actually say. Practice one move at a time, not the whole list.
- Stuckness Pivots name what the stuckness is telling you — and where to go next.
- Cultural & Marginalization notes are not optional reading — an orientation you can only see the strengths of is one you'll misuse.
One principle throughout: read the limitations as carefully as the mechanism. Every orientation lists what it's bad at, not only what it's good at — the mismatches and contraindications are the point. For the project background, see the About page.