What to Expect when Starting Therapy for the First Time

If you’re starting therapy for the first time, you may be wondering what to expect. Here are a few things that may be helpful to know before you begin.

What should I expect during the initial phone consultation?

The free 15-minute phone consultation is an opportunity for us to see if we might be a good match working together in therapy.

I’ll ask you to share a little about what brings you to therapy right now and what you’re hoping to get out of working together. If you’ve done therapy before, I’ll ask you what you liked and disliked about your previous experience. This helps me to better understand if my style and approach may be a good fit for you.

I’ll also share a bit about my style, the therapy process, and what it would be like to work together. I’m always happy to answer any questions you may have about how I work or therapy in general. If we decide we’re a good fit for working together, we’ll set up your first therapy appointment on this call.

What happens after I schedule my first therapy appointment?

Once we’ve decided we’re a good match and scheduled your first appointment, I’ll email you a link to SimplePractice. SimplePractice is the secure online system I use for paperwork, billing, secure messaging, and video therapy sessions. In your SimplePractice portal, you will find demographic, credit card, and consent forms, as well as a few brief questionnaires that will give us a foundation for starting our work together.

What should I expect during our first therapy session?

Our first therapy session is an opportunity for the two of us to meet face-to-face (virtually), and get to know one another a bit better. We will also go over the consent form together, and I can answer any questions you may have.

During the first therapy appointment, I’ll ask you some questions about yourself and invite you to share more with me about what you are hoping to get out of therapy. I’ll share my thoughts with you about how I think we can focus our sessions to best achieve your goals.

How often will I attend therapy?

I meet with new clients once per week for at least the first 4-6 months. Weekly sessions allow us to build a supportive relationship and make meaningful progress in therapy.

If you are concerned about your ability to meet weekly due to financial constraints, please see my policy about reduced fees on my Therapy Fees page.

As we continue in therapy, we may decide to decrease the frequency of sessions to biweekly or one session per month. There are also less common situations where more or less frequent therapy sessions may be appropriate. Please feel free to ask me about your specific needs.

How long will I be in therapy?

I’m a firm believer that you should not be in therapy every week for the rest of your life. Rather, therapy is a place for you to get support, process, learn, and grow. When you have reached your goals and feel confident in your ability to move forward on your own, therapy will come to an end.

As you’re preparing to end therapy, it’s important to know that you can always return to therapy in the future when needed. Therapy is a resource for you to use throughout your life, and it is often true that therapy is helpful with different things at different points in your life.

The length of time you’ll spend in therapy varies greatly depending on many factors, including your specific situation, needs, and goals. While most clients meet with me for at least a year, I meet with many clients for several years with the frequency of sessions decreasing throughout that time.

What if I have other questions about starting therapy?

Schedule a free phone consultation by clicking the schedule button at the top of this page and let’s talk.