1:1 Adults

What to expect from your first session

 

The initial assessment session will last between 60 - 90 minutes and it is an opportunity for you to see how you feel about working with me to help you manage the issues you are facing.  During the assessment, I will gain some basic information about the symptoms and causes of your challenges and what you are hoping to achieve (or we can work on what a good therapy outcome would look like for you).  This will be a good opportunity for you to also ask questions about the therapy approaches I use and the way I work.

 

Towards the end of this session we can then discuss how it went and whether we think counselling/psychotherapy would work between us. If we decide to work together, I can offer a limited number of weekly sessions.  My experience shows that a minimum of 6 sessions is a good starting point, or we could have open ended weekly sessions where we review therapy regularly with no set number of sessions in mind.

 

Even if we have agreed a set number of sessions, you are still free to terminate if you feel you need to. We will also agree the details of the contract.  This includes confidentiality, safety, fees agreed and term of contract along with a regular allocated weekly time for our sessions.

 

If we agree that it will not work between us, then I will make recommendations for alternatives that may be more helpful to you.  I can understand that you might like to go away and think for a while before making a decision to work with me or not. Alternatively, you may like to organise a further meeting or more at the end of the session.

 

How Many Counselling Sessions Will I need?

 

Usually, the client is the best judge of when they have had enough.   Should you wish to set a number from the beginning I can give you an idea of what can realistically be achieved in different time periods so you can get an idea of how long you may need - although this is not an exact science because each person is unique.  Remember that you can review the work as we go along and it will give you time to experience the approach and decide how long you will need for what you want to achieve.  You can read more FAQ's or alternatively, you can e-mail me with further questions.