Your first session

From booking to walking back out

1. Booking

   Book online at any hour, or call reception during office hours. You will be asked what you are hoping to work on, whether you want in person or online, and what times suit you. That is it. No intake interview to get through before you are allowed an appointment.

2. Before you arrive

   You will receive consent and intake forms by email. They cover confidentiality, limits to confidentiality, fees and contact preferences. They take a few minutes. If anything on them worries you, bring it up in session rather than filling it in silently.

3. Getting there

   Both offices have parking on site. Arrive a few minutes early if it is your first visit. Arrival details for each office covers entrances, floors and where to wait.

4. The first ten minutes

   Your therapist will go through confidentiality and answer questions about how they work. This is a good moment to ask anything you were too polite to ask on the phone, including about fees, frequency and their experience with what you are dealing with.

5. The rest of the hour

   Mostly you talking, at whatever level of detail you want. You are not expected to arrive with your history organised, and you are not expected to tell the hardest part on day one. Some people cry, some people talk about work for fifty minutes, some people say they do not know where to start. All of that is a normal first session.

6. Before you leave

   You and your therapist will talk about what might be useful next, and whether the fit feels right. Booking a second session is not automatic. If you would rather try someone else on the team, say so, and reception will arrange it without any awkwardness.