Are you new to counselling and wondering what to expect?
You are absolutely not the first person to be new to counselling and you won’t be the last!
Your questions, curiosities, or even hesitations are normal and expected.
I want to make your experience with me as easy and smooth as possible.
Here is what you can generally expect from your time with me.
Initial Sessions
Every initial session will start with going over the legal stuff - confidentiality, informed consent, and your rights as a client. I will make sure that you understand this as thoroughly as possible before moving on. Don’t worry, this won’t take longer than a few minutes.
Assessment is really a fancy word for saying that I want to get to know you and hear about the issues that brought you here. Sometimes an hour is not enough time to go through everything so assessment may continue into the next session. But of course, it is important to know that assessment is constant and ongoing, especially if any new issues come up, or if there are areas that we didn’t touch on earlier. Additionally, I understand that situations often change and evolve, so continuing to assess things as we go will help ensure that we are going in the direction that fits with what you need best.
Subsequent Sessions
This is where we start to unravel what is important to you and together, we will identify themes and patterns in your difficulties, as well as your strengths. I believe that counselling is a collaborative process, and that you are ultimately the expert of your life and know what works or doesn’t work for you. I want to collaborate with you in making steps towards your goal(s), whether this may be more structured or loose really depends on what fits your needs.
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I also emphasize strongly on the power of experience and paying attention to all the emotions and body sensations that show up in the session. Pretty quickly, you may notice that your self-awareness will start to grow, which can often lead to uncomfortable feelings, big feelings, new feelings, or old feelings that you haven’t felt in a long time. An increase in self-awareness can also help us better understand a certain situation, patterns that are perpetuating the problem, or offer a different or new perspective. No matter what happens in the session, I want to go through it with you - tears, snot, and everything in between.
Last Session
There is no set amount of sessions that you have to adhere to so the last session is ultimately up to you on when you would like to end counselling. However, it is generally optimal for there to be a mutually decided-upon time for things to wind down where your progress can be reviewed and a plan is in place for you to carry on independently. At your request, I can also make recommendations or referrals to other resources to help with ease of transition or tools to enrich your counselling experience long-term.
And of course, you are always welcome to come back anytime!
