About us - What should I expect from my first counselling and psychological therapy session?
About us
What should I expect from my first counselling and psychological therapy session?
Your psychologist will:
- Introduce themselves, how they work, their training and experience
- Provide information about the counselling and therapy process
- Answer any questions you may have
- Put you at ease
- Treat you with respect
- Invite you to discuss what issues you would like to work on in counselling
- Ask you some questions to better assess these issues
- Provide you with a summary of their professional opinion so far
- Provide you with information about treatment options
- Work with you to formulate specific goals for your work together
- Offer you a regular appointment time to work on these goals and issues
- Ask for your feedback on how the session went
- Ask for your commitment to the counselling and therapy process
During your first session, the counsellor / psychologist will also provide you with information about crisis management, confidentiality, cancellation policy and any other "house-keeping" issues. Feel free to ask as many questions as you like. You are also welcome to take notes during your session. A lot will be covered during your counselling sessions and it will be hard to remember it all. We recommend you keep a therapy journal where you can capture notes during sessions, as well as note down observations between sessions as well as any between-session exercises.
To read The Australian Psychological Society charter for clients click here.