This is probably the most quintessential form of therapeutic intervention that if you ask most people if they go to therapy will come to mind. But as I have learned overtime even with mental health therapy becoming more acceptable/mainstream, many people still don’t know what takes place in an individual therapy session…

What to Expect from a first session…

Most of the time a therapist will give you some initial paperwork at a first session or may send it to you ahead of time. Once the house keeping things are out of the way a therapist may reiterate some of the discussed problems/focuses that have been identified in paperwork, or through phone interactions when setting up the appointment. Otherwise, they may ask “What brings you into treatment?”. This can spark the discussion that will inform the therapist as to what is important to the client to focus on and what they hope to achieve within this.

This is how a typical Journey will begin. The twists and turns, or hills and valleys one’s Journey may take then depends on the open process of each client and the skills of the therapist who continues to engage the client. Understanding that the process of therapy is not always liner and that some topics can bring up others that may take a more focused prioritization that originally thought.

The most important thing to remember is therapy is a connective process that should be collaborative between the client and the therapist. Here is to you having a positive experience on your Journey.