Your First Therapy Session: What Should You Expect?
Starting therapy is a big step. So first: take some time to be proud of yourself for taking that step.
While it’s a little more common to openly talk about mental health issues like anxiety or depression, it’s still very ingrained in American culture to believe that you need to take care of your problems yourself. Overcoming that to ask for support is no small feat–take a moment to appreciate the hard work you’re doing for yourself.
It’s common to feel nervous before your first appointment. You’re starting something new, where you’re going to have to ask yourself to be vulnerable with someone you don’t know that well, and you might not have any idea what you’re walking into.
So what should you expect?
First, some housekeeping:
Despite what you may have seen on TV, therapy doesn’t start by jumping into your deepest, most intimate vulnerabilities. There’s actually some administrative stuff to cover before you get into it. You might have gotten forms ahead of time, or you might be filling them out at the time of your first appointment, but either way your therapist will want to go over the details of those forms with you before you jump into treatment. They’ll cover things like:
The cost of treatment
Confidentiality policies/HIPAA
Cancellation policies
What insurance will cover/how to submit a superbill to insurance
Record release forms: this will allow your therapist to obtain medical information from your other health care providers like a physician, dentist, psychiatrist, etc.)
Questions about your symptoms
Informed consent
Informed consent refers to the process and paperwork your therapist will go over with you to explain how the therapeutic process works, how confidentiality works, what the risks and benefits of treatment are, etc. It allows you to fully opt in to treatment by being informed of what exactly you’re consenting to.
Starting small:
The therapeutic process relies on trust. You can’t feel comfortable exploring things you feel vulnerable about if you don’t trust your therapist–that’s why when you get started you just ease into introductions and getting to know one another within the setting of therapy so you can get accustomed to what to expect when you come in for each session. In regular sessions, your therapist might ask you if there’s anything in particular you’d like to discuss during session, or if there’s anything you need specific support with, but in your first session, you’ll cover questions like:
Is this your first experience with therapy?
Do you have any concerns about therapy or the therapeutic process?
What brought you to therapy now?
What symptoms are you experiencing?
Are you finding your daily functioning is impeded by these symptoms?
What are you hoping to achieve through our work together?
Your therapist will likely also ask you questions about your family history, your living situation, your relationships, etc. From there, you and your therapist will discuss broad goals for your treatment: what you hope to achieve, how treatment will work, how long treatment typically lasts, etc.
Remember to ask questions too:
Your therapist isn’t the only one who needs more information, you want to be sure to ask any questions that come up for you as well. After all, you’re going to be doing some very vulnerable work with them, so you need to feel comfortable and informed in order to do so. Some questions you might want to ask could be:
What experience do they have with the type of support you’re looking for?
What is their modality?
How long does treatment typically take?
How do they ensure confidentiality?
How do they measure progress with their clients?
How do sessions with them typically go–should you come in something to talk about specifically each week, will there be homework, etc.
Have they been to therapy themselves?
What should you do between sessions to make the most of your experience?
If you’re ready to start therapy, our therapists at Anchor Counseling New York can provide you with a safe and stable environment to empower your growth and healing. Our therapists are accepting new clients - schedule an appointment today to get started.
