Yes, a number of times. Not often, but not rare. He has two versions, "what are you needing from me today?" and "what do you need from me?" The first one may be in the opening parts of the session to help me focus on what I need from him that day. The second has a greater sense of urgency, especially when he senses I need something from him (he may sense my held back emotions, camoflauged distress, etc.) and he wants to cut to the chase and make sure he knows what it is so he can provide it (if possible). There have also been a couple of times when T was serving as a coach to me in legal proceedings and he was called into a meeting at my request and he will listen for a while to the conversation and if he is not clear on why he is there, he would say to me, "why am I here?" or "what do you need from me?"

I actually like that he has asked these things. It is not often, but it shows he is reading me that I need something and wants to encourage me to voice it. The first, more casual one, "what are you needing from me today?" also sometimes has a feeling to it as if he doesn't want to cast about and have to pry it out of me, but just wants to be a little lazy and get me to focus and tell him.

These are always good questions, I think, because they make me (or any client) look inside themselves and try to discern what they need. It can be easy to talk about unimportant stuff in therapy, especially if we are dancing around key, painful issues. This question makes us buckle down, take a moment of introspection, and let the T know how he/she can be of service.