What to expect during your first therapy visit.
I will greet you at the beginning of your appointment time,
and show you to my office. We will meet in a secure,
private setting where anything can be discussed. A few
minutes will be devoted to nuts-and-bolts items such as
confidentiality, disclosure and consent. I will ask you to
talk about your concerns and goals. We will talk about your
expectations and any reservations you might have about
beginning this process.
I will have quite a few questions to begin, in order to get
some of the basic information I will need. For instance, I
will want to know about your background and current
circumstances, your strengths and the obstacles you face. I
may ask about your family. I will ask about alcohol/drug
use and will have you list the symptoms and problems you
encounter. I will want to know about any medications you
are taking, questions you may have about psychoactive
medications, and whether I should coordinate care with your
physician.
I'll be interested to know about your thoughts on what kind
of therapy you think is most helpful, for instance,
directive and concrete, or something of an unfolding
process of exploration. It will be okay if you don't know
the answers to all of my questions. There will be no
pressure placed upon you at any time.
I'll want to give time to all the initial questions you
have.
We will formulate some initial goals for our work together,
so that we are in agreement on what the milestones will be
as well as how to recognize when your goals have been
achieved. We should have a rough idea about how long the
process will take so that you know what you are getting
into.
It is my hope that when we end our first session, you will
be feeling that you have just spoken with someone who seems
keenly able to understand what you experience and can begin
to shed new light on what isn't working in your life the
way you want it to, and what you can do about
it.