28 Aug Things to remember

Therapy is a combined effort. If you are not able to or encouraged to take an active part in the session, your experience of counselling psychotherapy will be impacted and you will get less from it.

Here are some things you can do to help make your first session as successful as possible, for you.

• Be open and honest about your thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.  This will get easier after a few sessions.
• Be prepared. Before you get to the session, know how to describe “what’s wrong” and as best possible, how you experience your feelings about your problem.  Try writing them down before hand and saying them out loud in a private space.
• Ask questions. The more you understand the experience of therapy and how the process works, the more comfortable you will be. Ask questions about the therapy process, and ask me to repeat anything you don’t understand.  I want to help and I will always try to use language that is accessible to you and I will explain things that might at first seem more complex.
• Be sure to come along to your first session with realistic expectations. Therapy is typically not a quick fix for your problem, rather it is a process that can be a successful tool toward resolving our problems.

Both you and your therapist will need to work hard at your relationship and it will be this, together with the knowledge and skills that your therapist has and is trained in that will help working together to be a success.