What to expect from your 1st therapy session.

What to expect from your 1st therapy session.

You have finally decided to work on your mental well-being but you are unsure of what to expect from therapy. This article will guide you on what therapy is and what to expect from your first session.

What is therapy?

Therapy is also known as psychotherapy, counseling, or talk therapy. It is the process of meeting with a trained person with the goal of taking care of your mental well-being. 

The most important thing to remember is that therapy is not only for people who have been diagnosed with a mental health condition. You can approach a mental health professional for many different reasons:

• To discuss emotional instabilities

• For conflict resolution

• Trauma counseling

• Grief Counseling

• Just having a safe space to talk to someone.

Benefits of therapy.

Research shows that up to ¾ of people see some success after just six months of therapy. Here are just some of the benefits of therapy:

• Improve communication skills.

• Learn to resolve conflict.

• Treat mental health conditions.

• Increased self-awareness.

• Develop coping skills and strategies.

• Learn to find healthy, positive support.

• Stronger relationships.

• Change negative emotions and thought patterns.

• Alter negative behaviours.

• Improved physical health.

• Improved mental health. 

Common types of therapy.

Knowing the main types of therapy can help you work with your therapist to find the best solution. However, remember not one shoe fits all, and your therapist may use a mix of techniques:

• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: is short-term and is focused on problem-solving, changing behaviours, and learning better strategies for dealing with different situations

• Mindful-Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: a modified version of CBT. It incorporates mindfulness practices to help the effective handling of negative behaviour patterns and prevent mental health issues from worsening or relapsing. 

• Dialectical Behavioural Therapy: develop skills to deal with painful emotions and relationships with mindfulness, stress tolerance, emotional regulation, and effective interpersonal communication.

Now that you know more about therapy and types of treatment, let's dive into what you can expect from your first session with Laurika.

What to expect during your 1st session with Laurika.

During the session:

For an adult individual:

Each session is 50 minutes long. This first session will be mainly an information-gathering session. This includes gathering information on childhood history, current family, work, and family situations. You will also complete three questionnaires: the first one is a depression questionnaire, which will assess the body function, the second one is a general checklist for behaviours, and the third is a questionnaire to figure out patterns. All of this will determine a diagnosis and create the therapy plan. All information is strictly confidential.

Children 16 and older:

The child will be seen alone and unless there are questions for the parents they will only be involved when there is feedback. Confidentiality will only be broken if: the child threatens to harm themselves, threatens to harm someone else, or threatens to run away from home. Unless the child is comfortable with having a family session, the parents will not be invited into a session. Parents also cannot contact Laurika after a session to discuss anything that happened in the session as trust is of utmost importance with teens.

Children under 15 years:

The first session is with the parents. This is so a full history can be collected from pregnancy until the current situation. Also, the clinic card and current school report are good information for Laurika to get at this session. It is also recommended that the parents go for counseling sessions of their own at this point. The child will then start sessions on their own after this. Feedback will be given after session three especially if a cognitive evaluation has been done.

Family Therapy:

All parties are seen for the first session which is 120 minutes long and this is to gauge the dynamics of the family. The following sessions are then all individual sessions to determine their functioning within the family system. Then the family will be seen together to find the priority of the problems and then set the therapy plan.

Couple Therapy:

Both parties will be seen in the first session for 90 minutes to determine the dynamics of the relationship. The next two sessions will be separate so that each partner can cover personal information and any other information that they may not be comfortable discussing in front of the other partner. The fourth session will be with both parties again and will cover the difficulties the couple faces and the therapy plan.

Conclusion

Therapy can seem overwhelming, especially the first session. Knowing what to expect can help make this easier. Knowing that you are walking into a safe space will make you more open to trusting your therapist. Laurika prides herself in creating such a space. One that fosters confidentiality, non-judgment, and safety.

A final note on confidentiality

Information is always confidential. If you are not the patient/parent/legal guardian of the party in therapy, you do not have access to the information.