If you haven’t had therapy before it can be nerve-wracking to dip your toe into the proverbial pool for the first time. I’d like to invite you to breathe, and to come and try it anyway. We understand what it is like: counsellors and psychotherapists have to attend therapy to pass their exams, so we’ve all sat where you have at some point!

So, what can I tell you? First of all, therapy isn’t like going to the doctor. You remain an active participant in your own healing. What we do is help you develop the skills to manage the issues you talk with us about. Both you and your therapist must be active participants for therapy to work. This is what therapy will look like from your perspective if you haven’t had it before:

1. you “get it all out” and tell us what’s been going on and what’s brought you to therapy
2. we ask more questions. This helps us get a better sense of the overall context and any specifics we need to know
1. This may be where you feel unsure of what to do next. That’s okay, I want to invite you to trust the process.
3. We discuss with you what you want from therapy. For many people, it’s a change in their current circumstances (like getting used to a neurodivergency diagnosis or developing their friendship network). Other people want somewhere to process what’s happening in their lives (such as anyone who’s making a big change in their lives, or people with long-term pain). Some people want to reflect on an issue they cannot change (for example, people going through a divorce, or clients wishing to make peace with with a terminal illness) in order to finally accept it.
4. Once we’ve agreed on a therapeutic goal, we work towards it, together. I will offer you whatever you need each session - so long as it’s within a therapist’s scope! This can include:
1. listening
2. showing you helpful pieces of theory (such as the Drama Triangle, which can help simplify many apparently complex dynamics in relationships and help you identify what, if anything, you can do to change it)
3. exploring new thoughts and feelings as they come up
4. reviewing your progress and celebrating your successes, and
5. helping you plan how to maintain your progress without therapy, or with less frequent therapy.

Note that we’ll have an over-arching therapeutic goal which we’ll agree on together, but I may also ask you what you’d like to work on at the start of each session, depending on the nature of our work together.

When a client’s ready to go out “into the wild” by themselves, I often offer them a one-off session 3 or 6 months ahead, so we can check in together and make sure your life is on the track you intended.

And that’s it! I’ll happily answer any other questions you might have so feel free to contact me and we can discuss your questions, thoughts, and doubts.

Credits: Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.