Important Information
Our first session together will be a little bit different than our other sessions.
Before we begin, we will go over some important information together, such as your right to confidentiality.
We will also go over the informed consent form that I will email you ahead of time. I will ask you if you have any questions or concerns about it before we sign it.
Initial Goal Setting
Once we have signed the informed consent form and gone over any questions or concerns that you might have about our work together, we will start to talk about what has brought you to counselling.
This will help us establish some initial goals for our work together.
Keep in mind that the goals we come up with during this first session are only initial goals, and that your goals and expectations of counselling may change and/or expand at any time during our work together.
If you’re not exactly sure what your goals for counselling might be, don’t worry. We can figure it out together. That is part of the process.
Finally, in our first session, I will also likely ask you some questions about your personal history and your current situation, in order to get a more complete picture of how I can support you in reaching your goals.
Feeling Safe
One of the biggest parts of my job is to create a safe space in which you feel you can express yourself without fear of being judged. In this space, I hope that you will be able to express, experience, and process a wide range of thoughts and emotions. This can help you gain important insight into yourself and your experiences.
I know however that attaining the level of trust required to open up like that can take different amounts of time for different people, depending on their past experiences and present situation. Don’t feel rushed. Building trust, connection, and increasing your sense of safety are all part of the process, and therapeutic in and of themselves.
You’re in Charge
You always have the right to share as much or as little information with me as feels comfortable for you, at any given time. If I ever ask you a question that you don’t feel comfortable answering, you can let me know.
I know that sometimes clients feel very nervous coming to their first session, especially if it is their first time seeking counselling. I hope that knowing that you are in charge of how much or how little you share can at least help lessen some of that nervousness.
Feedback
Your counselling sessions are for you. If things are not going the way you would like them to, let me know, so that we can work together to move forward in a direction that feels the most helpful to you.
I will check in with you regularly to get your feedback on how the counselling process is feeling for you, but please let me know at any time if you have concerns about our work together.
If I ever make a suggestion that doesn’t feel right for you, you have no obligation to follow it. In fact, discussing why it doesn’t feel right and brainstorming alternatives can be extremely helpful in figuring out what does feel right for you.
Kaliopi Polychronakos, BSW, MCP, RCC 