What to expect in your first counselling session?

Deciding to go to therapy is a tough decision, and can feel daunting, and exposing - especially if it’s your first time. It might have taken you a lot of thinking, tough life moments and introspection to finally reach a place where you’re ready to start counselling.

If it’s your first time in counselling, you might have some idea how it works from movies, and friends and family. However, what happens in counselling sessions isn’t always talked about openly. So what does happen?

The first session often feels a bit awkward, a bit more quiet, and uncertain than your future sessions might. You may have come to therapy, but might not be entirely sure what you want to say, or you might just have a list of things you’ve been waiting till your first therapy session to discuss. Either way - your therapist’s role in the first session is to gently learn more about you and what brings you to counselling, whilst also helping you become comfortable and start building therapeutic trust. However, there is no one-size-fits-all formula to the first session - or any therapy session. It all comes down to you, and what you want from your first session, as well as each therapist and their way of working.

But there are some things you can generally expect from a first session with me. Such as, therapeutic contracting - to establish a way of working, understand confidentiality and its limitations and to discuss logistics. And then an opportunity for you to share as much - or as little as you want about yourself, and your life. Sometimes, I might ask you specific questions about your history and relationships to learn about you, and sometimes I might sit in silence whilst you share. We will have 50 minutes together, and there’s no wrong way to use this time.

So, I’d say, expect your first session to be unexpected. You can come with a plan of what you want to talk about, or just see how you feel when you get there, and what it might bring up for you.

If you're ready to take that first step, you can book a free 15-minute introductory call with me, and see where the first session takes you.