What Will Happen In My First Psychology Session?
Seeking psychological support can be nerve wracking, particularly when you are unsure of what to expect in a typical therapy session! Hopefully this guide will calm your nerves a bit before you take the leap and attend your first appointment with a psychologist.
The first thing that will likely happen in your session after initial introductions and chit chat is your psychologist will talk through confidentiality, their privacy policy, and other house keeping matters with you, and make sure they have your informed consent for the session. If you were to attend a session at Sunrise Clinical Psychology you would be sent these forms to sign in advance, though we would still talk them over to make sure you don’t have any questions.
Next, you’ll likely be asked a question like “What brings you along today?” Your psychologist’s main goal in the first session is to get to know you and understand a little bit about what’s been going on in your life that you are struggling with. They’ll often ask A LOT of questions, about your current problems, and about your personal history.
Having an accurate understanding of these problems allows your psychologist to provide the most effective treatment, but remember that if you are uncomfortable with a question or would prefer not to answer, you don’t have to! It can feel really weird talking about really personal or difficult things with a person that you’ve just met and your psychologist understands that.
Importantly, the first therapy session provides an opportunity for you to express what they would like to achieve by coming along to therapy. A good psychologist will be looking to work collaboratively with you, because you are the expert in you. Your psychologist will help you come up with some goals that are important to you to work on together.
Your psychologist will also answer any questions you may have about therapy, and will explain what treatment options are suitable for your concerns.
You’ll probably find that the session goes really quickly, because of how much there is to get through. Generally, an individual therapy sessions last 50 minutes.
After the session you might find yourself feeling quite emotionally exhausted so if it’s possible for you, take some time after the session to relax and reflect.
And if after reading this, you think you are ready to take that leap, Sunrise Clinical Psychology has current availabilities for new clients and would love to speak to you to see if we are the right fit for you.
Contact us now to book your first session.