Improvisational Therapy

Improvisational therapy is a therapeutic orientation introduced by Bradford Keeney with his 1990 book Improvisational Therapy: A Practical Guide for Creative Clinical Strategies. As a therapeutic orientation, improvisational therapy is unique in that it is arguably the first model-free therapy. It invites practitioners to be freed from rigidly following previously established clinical methods, strategic protocols, diagnostic instruments, and interpretive frameworks that dictate how a therapy [Page 536]session ought to unfold. Instead, practitioners are encouraged to tap into their own unique creativity, imagination, and playfulness, allowing a unique therapy to be invented for each particular clinical situation. Improvisational therapy is resource focused, which means it emphasizes clients’ strengths and gifts to create positive outcomes. It is also an outcome-based orientation in which the therapist utilizes the ...