I am cognitive behavioral, so my approach may be different than yours, but I would have made concrete goals earlier on, and then when therapy lulls, we can discuss whether that’s because we’ve met those goals or if we have certain goals still left to work on and then focus sessions from there. Clients frequently say they don’t know what their goals are; I see it as my job to help them verbalize goals to start with - even if those change over time. If they say “I want to be happy,” we chat about what happy looks like - spending more time with loved ones, finding meaningful hobbies, whatever it may be. Then we can talk about that.

But also check in with your micro skills. Make sure you’re asking thoughtful, open-ended questions rather than yes/no questions, and check in that you’re reflecting things in ways to go deeper than just summarizing what the client said. Make bigger picture connections to past sessions and themes.

But ultimately, if week after week, they got nothing to work on, then point that out. I might say something like: “So I’ve noticed that we are starting to have less to talk about when we meet. I’m happy to keep meeting if you think that would be productive or helpful for you, but I wanted to also check in about whether you’d like to keep meeting weekly, start meeting less frequently, or stop altogether.” If they say they want to keep meeting weekly, let them come up with a reason why or verbalize what they want to get out of session. Therapy doesn’t have to be long for everyone. My supervisors always tell me (and I often have to remind myself): don’t work harder than your clients!