What will happen in our first meeting
I view the first session as an opportunity for us to get to know one another and to find out (a) whether or not we can comfortably work together, and (b) whether what you need fits with what I have offer. So, after an initial exchange of greetings, I will ask you to outline in your own words your reasons for coming to therapy. Of course, people approach a psychotherapist for al sorts of reasons some of which are easire to articulate than others, and so the process of trying to put into words what brings you to therapy is an essential first step towards healing and it can be quite challenging at times to find the right words. So part of my job is to help you to clarity exactly what needs attention. In other words, while it is important for me to leave space for you to express yourself in your own way my job is to assist by asking questions that might lead to new ways of understanding old problems.
At the end of this first session we will have a discussion about how we have experienced the hour before going on to discuss whether or not we wish to continue working with one another. If we do decide to continue it is best to try to arrange a regular meeting time so that we can be sure of establishing some continuity in our work.
At every point I welcome feedback on how the process is going so that we can be clear about how we are experiencing our time together and whether or not it feels worthwhile.