It might seem weird, that first session with a complete stranger, but that weird feeling is normal. During your first appointment, it is fairly easy – you’ll come in, meet with your therapist, and they’ll dig right into all your business. Kidding! You’ll come in, meet with your therapist, and you will go through an intake process. During the intake process, the therapist will allow you to open up about yourself, your family, your presenting problems, and other determining factors that will help make your therapy sessions more beneficial for you. You might be thinking ‘I don’t want to talk about my family’ or ‘I don’t want to air out my dirty laundry’ – well, first, although you might not want to talk about your family, it is important to remember that your family can tell a lot about you as a person. Second, it is totally up to you on how deep you do or don’t want to go. Typically, your therapist won’t force you to talk about anything you don’t want to talk to say to a therapist that will shock or surprise them. Remember your therapist is there to help you, not hurt you.
It is typically ideal for your first session to involve your therapist getting to know you and you getting to know your therapist. Building rapport and trust is essential to the therapist-client relationship and that is something that should take place from the first session.
Another thing to remember during your initial session – you will not walk out with a diagnosis and you also will not walk out a completely different person. Therapy takes time, commitment, and hard work. During your first session, you and your therapist can work collaboratively to discuss treatment goals and come up with a treatment plan that will benefit you, as the client. You and your therapist can also determine when you’ll have your sessions and the time that you’ll have your sessions. It’s best to be consistent with your appointments, but life happens and schedules change, but this is why scheduling is something discussed in the first session in order for you and your therapist to be on the same page.
Please reach out for additional information from Ashley or LaNita.
carolinaassessmentservices@gmail.com
(803) 200-1034 or (803) 291-4924
carolinaassessment.services 