Your First Visit

How does therapy help?

The White Bridge, after 1895 John Henry Twachtman The Art Institute of Chicago

Depending on your present situation and your reasons for seeking help, there are many potential benefits to therapy. If you are seeking diagnosis or treatment for a mental health issue, therapy can help you better manage your symptoms, outbreaks, and triggers. It can also offer you increased coping skills and awareness about new ways of dealing with situations. Counseling can offer problem-solving skills, provide support, and help you work through life changes, allowing you to see your circumstances as a personal growth opportunity instead of a burden or obstacle.

Some specific skills therapy can provide are:

• Emotional management, including, but not limited to confusion, irritability, stress, and sadness.
• Coping mechanisms to help you work through situations which cause you anxiety, fear, or avoidance.
• Stress-management techniques to deal with stress in your everyday life, such as with your job and family.
• Skills and techniques to help you better navigate relationships, or to work through relationship troubles.
• Problem solving skills for you to use when you encounter issues which may cause you to shy away or back down, such as social situations or public speaking.
• Improving self-care and self-confidence.
• Improving communication, listening, and speaking up for yourself.
• Understanding your own skills, strengths, and positive attributes to manage/reduce/quiet your inner negative talk.
• Finding a resolution to the issues that were the catalyst to therapy, such as excessive worry or being unable to sleep.

What to expect on your first visit?

Your first therapy session has two main goals:

1. A bit of history and what’s happening now you want help with

Shamsa Medallion, Islamic 1499-1699 The Art Institute of Chicago

2. Begin building a therapeutic relationship

Many clients tell me after our first session, “I already feel better.”  I see it in the way they hold themselves, too.

That’s because they have had the opportunity to share what is going on, and an experienced guide is listening with the aim to assist. I will ask you questions to help me better understand your primary issues and concerns, as well as your history and physical health. You are welcome to ask questions of me in our first session, and I welcome you to call me prior to meeting if you have questions you would like answered before making a first appointment. In order for our meetings to be successful, it is necessary we establish a client/counselor relationship that is supportive and honest. If it is a good fit, then we are on the way. The therapeutic alliance is a research-supported key. Each client/therapist relationship will be unique but certain values and themes are true for all sessions, and you can expect the following:

• to be treated with compassion, empathy, respect, and understanding.
• to be presented with someone who is available to listen to you and listen to your interpretation of what you are experiencing.
• to receive knowledgeable and scientifically backed techniques and information to assist you in overcoming your mental health related struggles.
• to meet online via a secure confidential site.
• to receive/brainstorm real strategies and techniques you can use to enact positive changes on your life.
• this is a joint venture – it is important we talk about possibilities.

Odilon Redon, 1912 National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

I look forward to meeting with you and helping you reach your goals.

When you contact me and we agree to meet with a scheduled time, I will send you paperwork to be completed and returned to me by at latest the day before we meet so I may review it before our session. I will also provide the session link and payment link with instructions. And you are welcome to ask me any question about your upcoming appointment or the paperwork.

Is therapy confidential?

As a general rule, all therapy sessions are confidential and anything you discuss with your therapist will remain between the two of you, unless you request otherwise. And no information from the session can be disclosed without prior written consent from the client.

Please note there are exceptions to this law however, and the therapist can disclose information from the session to legal authorities or appointed persons if any of the following are true:

• The therapist suspects abuse to a child, dependent adult, or an elder, or are made aware of domestic abuse. These situations all require the therapist to notify law authorities immediately.
• If the therapist suspects an individual has caused, or is threatening to cause severe bodily harm to another person, therapists are required to report it to the police.
• If an individual intends self-harm, expressing for example, plans for suicide. While the therapist will attempt to work through this in the therapy session, if it appears to be unresolved, additional action may be taken to ensure the safety of the client.