We understand that reaching out for help is difficult, and even more so if you are new to therapy. Our goal is to outline the way we approach the therapy process. This will help you understand what you can expect from our first phone call to the final session. Of course, each person and situation is unique, and so it is important to understand that this process varies from person-to-person.

It is really important for us to speak to potential clients prior to the first session for a few reasons. First, it gives you the opportunity to ask any questions you have about our training, background, style, approach to therapy, and fees. Second, it gives us an opportunity to start to get to know you and what is going on in your life that has you thinking about therapy. Usually we can accomplish this in about 15 minutes. If at the end of the brief phone consultation we determine that we are a good fit for your needs, we will set up the first session. If not, we are happy to work with you to find someone who is a better fit. After we complete the brief consultation and agree that we are a good therapeutic match, we will set up an intake session and our therapeutic relationship will begin.

Your first session will be a 45 to 60-minute appointment. The focus of this session will be exploring the reasons you are seeking therapy, current symptoms, and relevant history. This tends to be a lot of information to cover in one visit, and thus we focus more on the highlights and the big picture. Sessions are typically weekly, but may be more or less often depending upon your specific needs.

Afterwards, we will develop a growth plan together. This usually includes setting short- and long-term goals, identifying the strategies and techniques we will be using to help you reach your goals, and identify strengths and resources you already have access to. We’ll spend our sessions addressing those goals and creating new ones for anything that comes up in the course of therapy. Sessions are also kept flexible to allow for more recent or time-pressing concerns that may have arisen since we last met.

When we get to the point that you feel you have met your goals, we will start to discuss termination. Termination sounds like a scary word, but all it really means is that we will conclude psychotherapy! This discussion happens well before we actually conclude therapy to give adequate time to process and prepare. We like to titrate therapy so it does not end abruptly. What this means is we will reduce sessions from weekly to biweekly, and subsequently monthly sessions. It also includes scheduling “booster” or “as needed” sessions for maintaining the gains made in psychotherapy, which may include reviewing skills learned in therapy, or resuming therapy if needed.

The length of therapy varies by person. Simple, acute problems might be addressed in weeks or months, while more complex and chronic problems might require a longer course of treatment.

All clients differ in how they respond to therapy because we all have our own stories, burdens, and worries. Some start to feel better after a single session simply because they’ve been waiting so long to tell someone about their struggles, but for others it is a longer process. Like all things in life, progress is not a straight line. You will have weeks where you feel great, and others where it seems like we are taking a step back. That is ok, what’s most important is that we keep working at it.