If you're not familiar with therapy, a great way to think of it is having a warm, welcoming place to discuss any thought or problem you've been dealing with without having to worry about judgment, pressure, being misunderstood, or not being heard.

You should never feel rushed, and the focus will always be on whatever issue you feel is most important at that moment. You know yourself better than anyone else ever could, so a therapist should never automatically assume that they know what's best.

A therapist's job is to listen, support, and provide you with the tools to be able to manage your feelings and your life situations, as well as help you accomplish the things you hope to achieve!

Often, people who are seeking out therapy for the first time might give up if they meet with a therapist who isn't the right fit for them. Maybe their personalities clash or the therapist's approach doesn't quite meet the client's needs; sometimes there are even issues because someone new to therapy doesn't know where to start! One of the most important parts of any therapeutic relationship is to make sure you've found the right person for the problems for which you are seeking help. If you don't like your therapist as a person, they probably aren't going to be much help to you!

In addition to finding the right fit, it's also important to give your therapist feedback if it seems like something isn't working or isn't helpful. Remember, while we do focus on your mind, we don't have the ability read them! (It would be much easier if we could!)

Typically, our first session will begin with me sharing a little bit about my work history and my approach so that you understand some of the things I am proficient in and how sessions may look for us.

The first few sessions are almost always focused on getting to know you and gathering information about your past and present, and then we will try to identify some goals that you would like to focus on moving forward -- we do this through talk therapy!

Once we identify goals, we can begin figuring out the source of the issues and identifying some coping skills and strategies that can help you manage your symptoms better. This is the most collaborative and usually the longest part of the therapy process.

Long term, people often will choose to cut down to less frequent sessions as they make more progress and are able to come up with and implement effective strategies on their own. Many people like to keep the therapist's support just in case a major problem crops up or they need a little feedback or a refresher at some point. Most individual therapists can meet weekly, biweekly, monthly, or sometimes quarterly!