Taking that first step towards therapy can feel like venturing into uncharted territory - and it’s natural to have lots of questions swirling in your mind: What will it be like? What will I have to talk about? Will it be awkward?
I totally understand these hesitations, so let's take away some of the ‘mystery’ from a typical counselling session ...
Getting to Know You ...
Your first session is a gentle introduction to our work together. It's a chance for us to get to know each other, and for you to feel comfortable sharing your thoughts and feelings, which may feel a little strange at first!
To help us track your progress, we'll start with a simple, confidential wellbeing questionnaire. You'll complete it again at our last session, giving us both a clear picture of how far you've come.
What Will We Discuss in a Therapy Session?
What we discuss will be guided by you and what feels most important to you, but it will likely include:
Current challenges:
Perhaps you're struggling with anxiety, stress, low mood, relationship difficulties, or a specific life event.
Past experiences:
Sometimes, understanding patterns from the past can shed light on present-day struggles.
Your thoughts and feelings:
We'll explore your inner world, helping you to identify and understand your emotions and thought processes.
Your goals for therapy:
We'll discuss what you hope to achieve and the changes you'd like to see in your life.
Together, we'll talk about what's going on for you right now, look at patterns of behaviour, and over the course of our sessions, introduce coping strategies and practical tools to help you manage difficult emotions or situations that may be preventing you from moving forward.
Talking Through Your Concerns ...
Importantly, you mustn’t worry about jumping about from place to place or not making sense! I'm here to listen. For many, it’s been such a long time since having the opportunity to ‘let it all out’, that there will be many thoughts, worries and questions that will all want priority.
Also, you won’t need to talk about anything you don’t want to. You are in complete control.
Our Sessions are Held in Strict Confidentiality
Everything shared, however, provides us both with another little piece of the puzzle to help me understand how best to support you. As a professional therapist, I adhere to a strict ethical code, with everything discussed is held in the strictest confidence and without prejudice. This means that you can speak freely and not have to think about whether something 'sounds ok'.
Concluding our Counselling Session
Along the way, I'll use various Integrative tools to support you and guide you towards the changes you want to see. Over the course of our sessions, we'll explore how these tools are working for you, building on your progress towards achieving your personal goals.
At the end of each session, we'll stop just a little ahead of our time to enable us to recap on the discussion and agree on our focus for the next week.
Making Changes ...
For change to happen meaningfully, our learnings have to be applied outside of the therapy session. For this reason, we might plan and agree on a little 'homework'. This could involve journaling, a behaviour experiment, or a commitment to changing something small about your everyday life.
Finally, we will have time to ask any questions you might have.
If you think this is the right time to seek counselling, I invite you to get in touch for a free, no-obligation 20-minute consultation. It's a chance for us to chat openly about any questions or concerns you might have, and together, we can explore how I can support you on your personal journey towards greater well-being.