What to Expect in Therapy
20-minute FREE consultation
This is our chance to meet face-to-face (via telehealth!) and make sure we’re a good fit. I’ll ask to hear about what you want to work on in therapy and how you heard about me. I’ll ask you a few questions to make sure I’m the best person to help you. We’ll leave time for you to ask me any questions you have and then, if it’s good fit, we’ll get you scheduled for your intake and weekly or every other week appointments.
The Intake:
After we’ve met for our free 20-minute consultation, the intake session is designed to really help me get to know you (and for you to continue feeling me out and making sure this is the right fit!). You’ll fill out paperwork online before the session, and we’ll start by reviewing it and talking about how I run my practice. In addition to hearing more about what’s bringing you to therapy, I’ll have a number of questions for you about different areas of your life. I think about my clients holistically and while you may be coming in for one particular problem, we might realize that it is unexpectedly impacting other areas of your life. Sure, you didn’t come in to talk about your sleep, but if I know how that’s going, I can help see how it might be impacting (or is impacted by) your mental health. While you should feel heard and supported from day one, know that this session is only the beginning and we won’t solve your problems today. Healing and growing take time and intention. If you’re ready to do the work, let’s talk!
Ongoing Counseling
Follow up sessions are where we get to mix it up and tailor therapy to what you need. I generally begin sessions by revisiting what we talked about last session to see how it’s landed and taken root throughout the week. From there, we can decide if we want to pick up that thread or if we’re going in a new direction today. I’m often looking for connections to bigger themes we are working on to help you stay on track with your treatment goals. Very likely our sessions will include laughing and probably some tears (I mean, come on, did you think you’d get through therapy without any tears?!). I typically end sessions by reserving a few minutes to consolidate and integrate our work. Research shows that clients typically forget what is worked on in therapy and, if so, have worse outcomes. My goal is to help you take the good work we do in session and bring it into the rest of your life where it will have the biggest impact.
Trauma-Focused Sessions
Other sessions, we may be completing trauma-focused work: EMDR and sensorimotor psychotherapy. Those sessions may focus more on the body and be less talking than you typically imagine when you think of therapy. Trauma processing sessions are focused and limited in scope. Part of processing trauma is not feeling you have to do it all at once. We can only take in and integrate so much information at a time, so each session provides us a chance to do a bit of work and let it sink in before moving on to the next thing. We end sessions with grounding, so you don’t leave feeling raw. Afterward, you may feel tired or energized and it may change session by session. Making significant changes in our life often takes time and intention. Part of engaging in therapy may be accepting it will take some time to see change. Having said that, you might also be surprised how quickly things change when you are motivated and ready to do the work!
Wrapping Up
Therapy is a strange relationship designed to end. My goal is for you to confidently internalize our work together. Throughout treatment, we’ll check in on how close we are to reaching your goals.Wrapping up often means saying goodbye (maybe even temporarily) to a supportive person who has dedicated time and space for you, and it can bring up past losses or goodbyes that didn’t go well. When we decide we are at a good place to stop, I like our last session to be a chance to have a “good goodbye” and to process our time spent together. We won’t bring up new information, but will focus instead on processing and integrating the therapy we have done. I can give you referrals if you’ll be continuing a different kind of work in the future or are feeling like the fit isn’t quite right. And, of course, we’ll celebrate the work we’ve done and where it’s taken you!
