Your First Counseling Appointment: What To Expect

You’ve officially made an appointment for counseling. Now what? Many people have no idea what to expect and the expectations they DO have are based off what they’ve seen on TV. Counseling doesn’t require you to lay on a couch, unless you want to, and it isn’t a tedious process of one person picking your thoughts and emotions apart until you aren’t even sure who you are anymore.

Counseling is a relationship. The first thing you can expect is that your therapist will work overtime to create a safe and comfortable atmosphere so that when the time comes to talk about all the painful things you need to talk about, you won’t feel like you’re talking to a complete stranger.

The day of your appointment, you’ll bring your completed paperwork that is available on the website. You’ll also want to be sure to bring your insurance card, if you are using your insurance. The most nerve-wracking moments of counseling happen while you wait in the lobby and at the very beginning of therapy when you are first having to speak with your therapist. As the session progresses, most people begin to feel more comfortable and realize that counseling truly is just a collaborative conversation where you get to talk about yourself as much as you want.

During this first session, your therapist will be assessing what issues need to be prioritized and worked on first. Goals will normally be talked about in the subsequent sessions following the initial session. Typically, people choose to see their therapist once a week in the beginning. As goals are met, and symptoms dissipate, they will move to every other week or once a month. However, this is your counseling and you can schedule your appointments in whatever frequency you choose.

For teenage clients, the first session looks a little different. The first session will be a combination of family counseling and individual counseling. The first half of the session is spent discussing paperwork as well as getting the opinions and observations from the parent(s) about what they’re seeing behaviorally with their teenager and how they are hoping counseling will help. Once the therapist has a good idea of what the parent(s) are looking to accomplish, the second half of the session will be between the therapist and teenager. This time is solely meant for relationship and trust building. Teenagers can have a hard time trusting a counselor, so the amount of time in which a trusting relationship is built is fairly dependent on the teenager. Once trust is established, work on behaviors, emotional self-awareness and coping skills can be focused on.

Taking that first step towards counseling is the scariest and the hardest. Once you have committed to helping yourself and realize that you deserve to be happy and healthy, counseling will feel less intimidating. Counseling is simply one big step towards taking your life back and finally finding the peace you’ve been searching for.

For further questions or concerns, feel free to contact April and have a brief consultation call about whether this would be the best fit for you, your teen, and/or your family.

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