What to expect in your first session

The hardest part of starting therapy is usually the part before you walk in the door. By the time we're sitting down together, the rest is mostly conversation.

Here's the shape of a first session with me: we'll spend a few minutes on the paperwork side — confidentiality, how scheduling works, any questions about fees. Then I'll ask what brought you in. You don't need a polished story. 'I'm not sure where to start' is a perfectly good place to start.

I'll ask some background questions — family, history, what's been tried before. Not because the past is the whole story, but because it gives me context for what we're working on now. If you're a couple, I'll want to hear from both of you, and I'll be paying attention to how you talk about each other as much as what you say.

By the end of the hour, we'll usually have a rough sense of what we're working on and whether it feels like a fit. There's no obligation to book a second session on the spot. Take a day, see how it sat with you, then decide.