What to expect in your first therapy session

Making an appointment to see a therapist can be nerve-racking and many clients wonder what they can expect to happen in their first counselling session.

Hopefully this blog will answer most of your questions, but please do reach out and ask if there’s anything else that you’d like to know.

Remember the aim of the first session is for you to decide whether you feel like we could work well together, so it’s important to think about whether you feel comfortable and secure in the session.

Before the appointment

You can contact me by phone, text or email. Some clients like to arrange a short, free consultation call before booking a session and I’m always happy to do that. Others prefer to just book an initial session and get started.

Arriving

All of my sessions are held in The Iveagh Practice, 37 Wexford Street, Dublin 2 or in The Space Above, Birr, Co. Offaly. Before your first session, I’ll send you instructions regarding entering the building.

Confidentiality

Confidentiality is an essential part of the psychotherapy process and its important that we discuss confidentiality in the first session.

Why have you decided to seek counselling now?

Early in the first session, or sometimes in the consultation call, I’ll ask you why you have decided to attend therapy.

It’s important for me to get an idea of what you’d like to work on in therapy, so that I can let you know whether its something that I can help with.

For many of my clients, they have experienced a bereavement or another type of loss. You might also be experiencing anxiety or depression, you might want to explore why the same patterns keep coming up in your relationships or simply want to understand yourself better.

Don’t worry if you feel like there are a lot of details or that it’s a long story as to why you decided to make a therapy appointment. If we decide to work together, there will be time to consider lots of aspects of your story.

In the first session, we are just beginning to get an idea of what you are finding difficult at the moment or what you would like to change in your life.

How I can help

After you’ve shared a bit about your reasons for wanting to begin therapy, I’ll share my understanding of what you’ve told me, to make sure that we’re on the same page. Then I’ll give an indication of how I think we might begin to work on what you’ve shared.

Sometimes, if I think that you would be better served by someone with specialist expertise e.g. an addictions specialist, we can talk about this and if possible I will offer you the name of a suitable person.

How it works

At this point, we’ll also discuss practicalities such as what time and how frequently to meet, what to do if you cannot attend a session and fees.

This is a good time for you to ask any questions you might have about me or about therapy in general. You can always ask any question you like in therapy.

If there’s time

As you can imagine, all of this can take up quite a lot of the first session, but some other questions I may ask if there’s time are:

• Have you been to therapy before?

• If so, what did you find useful or not useful from your previous therapy?

• What support do you have?

• Who are the significant people in your life?

• What coping mechanisms do you have?

• What would progress look like to you?

• How would you know that therapy had ‘worked’ for you?

Meeting again

Towards the end of the session, I’ll ask you whether you would like to meet with me again.

In therapy, it’s important that you feel like you can trust your therapist and like they understand you. Of course, this relationship doesn’t usually form instantly, but its very human to feel that you could work better with some people than others.

If you feel that we could work together, we’ll agree a date and time for our next session. If you don’t, I’ll try and share the name of another therapist that I think might be a good fit for you.

After the first session

After your first therapy session, you might feel many different ways.

Some people feel happy they have shared something that has been weighing on them. Some people feel a bit raw or vulnerable, as therapy can bring up difficult emotions.

I’d encourage you to plan something for after your first session that isn’t too difficult and you find enjoyable - watching an episode of your favourite TV show, a short walk or a cup of tea and your favourite chocolate bar.

Well done! You’ve taken the important first step of attending your first session and beginning your therapy journey.

To book your first session or to arrange a free consultation call send me an email, text message or give me a call.