What to expect in the first session

The first session can feel a little daunting, especially if you’ve never had any counselling before. It’s completely normal, many people will feel a little nervous at first - understandably, I am a stranger that you may be telling personal information.

Normally what happens is, I’ll ask you to tell me in a bit more detail what’s prompted you to look for some help, and what’s going on for you right now. It’s helpful for me to start to get a picture of you and what life is like for you at the moment, and perhaps the way it’s affecting you. I may ask about your mood, how you’ve been struggling and the impact it might be having on your day to day life. I’m not expecting you to open up with the deepest darkest stuff straight away if it’s going to be uncomfortable, so it’s OK to tell me as much or as little as you feel is right for you.

Then we may discuss your hopes and expectations of therapy – and how we might work together. Some people may want to focus on one thing at a time, others need the space to be open ended to get things off their chest, and see where it leads, some people want to explore past experiences, and some want to focus on how they can move forward – these are a few examples. Ultimately it’s a chance to express how you might like to use the sessions and perhaps, if things were to look better, what that would be for you.

I tend to communicate my thoughts and questions very openly so as to be transparent as to why I’m thinking or asking certain things, and check in with you as to what you think too.

After the first session we will likely have explored enough to link up to the next; perhaps one thing stood out to you as important from what we’ve spoken about and that might be where we pick up the next time, and we can agree together what that might be. There can be a ‘plan’ but I also believe that the most important things tend to present themselves as well, and I’ll be asking questions to help get clear on this too.

While it can be a little strange, it’s really just a conversation – where we will explore in a bit more depth, get to know each other and a chance for you to express what’s troubling you.