Walk-in single session therapy is a new, emerging model of clinical service delivery. This new form of therapy has grown as clinical service providers respond to the changing face of society. These changes are marked by society’s growing expectation for low cost, immediate, and convenient services.

The Eastside Family Centre of Wood’s Homes in Calgary, Alberta, Canada was chosen as the site for the study. The purpose of the study was to evaluate client satisfaction in a walk-in single session therapy format. The relationship between various treatment variables and clients’ ratings of overall assistance received in their session was investigated. Clients’ feedback about the service’s greatest strengths and recommended changes was also explored.

Client satisfaction with various treatment variables and overall assistance received in their walk-in single session was evaluated through a sample of 417 client satisfaction questionnaires returned immediately after the therapy session. Client satisfaction with the walk-in single session service offered at the Eastside Family Centre was high, with 83.3% of the clients in the sample reporting general satisfaction with the overall assistance received. Multiple regression analysis revealed that clients’ satisfaction with the team approach used at the centre had the greatest influence on clients’ overall rating of assistance received, while 19% of the variation in clients’ overall! rating was explained by the various treatment variables examined. Clients’ satisfaction with the explanation of confidentiality also contributed significantly to the variation of clients’ overall rating of assistance received.

Persons recovering from childhood or adult abuse were hypothesized to be less likely to benefit from a single session service (Hoyt, 1995), but surprisingly 100% (N=27) of the respondents with this presenting concern reported general satisfaction with their walk-in single session therapy. Thirty percent of the clients who responded reported that the greatest strength of the walk-in single session therapy service was its immediate accessibility. Eighteen percent reported that providing someone to talk to was the greatest strength, while fifteen percent reported the caring attitude of the therapist was the greatest strength.