New to therapy? Read this!
The holiday season and the end of the year often cause us to reflect and ask ourselves who we are and what we want out of life. This may get us thinking about starting (or restarting) therapy. With that in mind I wanted to share some thoughts about what you can expect from a therapy session. You may be feeling nervous, unsure, excited, or like you want to cancel the initial appointment you just made. Those are all valid feelings. Hopefully, this helps you get a sense of whe goes on in therapy so that you stick with it and begin your path to healing and discovery.
Let’s dive in!
Your therapist may be dressed “professionally” or in jeans. They may also have a nice office or they may not. You may be meeting with them virtually. There are many ways you may interact with your therapist and it is unlikely (although it is possible) that any of those ways will involve you lying on a couch like we so often see in the movies and on tv.
If it is your first session with a new therapist you are likely going to be answering some questions that provide the therapist with information about who you are. This will include a more detailed conversation about what made you seek out therapy in the first place, who makes up your family and support system, what symptoms you may be experiencing, where you work or go to school, what you do for fun, etc. It’s meant to allow your therapist to get to know you and for you to start to get a feel for your therapist as well. You probably won’t be going deep into the issues that brought you to therapy in this session.
In subsequent sessions you will be starting to do the “work” of therapy. This means that you will start exploring the concerns that brought you to therapy more deeply. The way in which you do that will depend on the therapist. Some therapists are more directive and active during sessions meaning that they will talk a little more and give you more direct guidance. Other therapists may provide you with more space to talk and more questions to help you come to your own conclusions. Some therapists may do all of these things throughout the session or at different times during your time in therapy. It all depends on who you are meeting with and what you are talking about. Feel free to ask your therapist about how they approach therapy!
You should be prepared before you come to therapy. This means that you have thought about what you would like to talk about which could be based on what has occurred during the time between sessions and/or what you spent time reflecting on (journaling is a great way to reflect). I know that it seems like you can just come to therapy and the therapist will somehow know what is going on in your mind, but that is not the case! We rely on you to share with us what is going on in your internal and external world and to have thought about how you want to use your session so that we can be most helpful to you.
This of course is not an exhaustive list of all the things you can expect in therapy, but it is a place to start reflecting on what to expect. I will be back to share with you more about how to know if your therapist is a good “fit” for you, how to experience conflict with your therapist, how to break up with your therapist, how to use journaling as a tool, and more! Stay tuned!
