What Should I Expect for the First Therapy Session?

Sometimes, people come into their first therapy session with me and they are nervous! I’ve had many people tell me that they almost didn’t show up, or they didn’t sleep well the night before in anticipation, or they spent the entire day before their appointment with me stressed out.

It is completely “normal” to be nervous on your first day of therapy. Some of that nervousness is likely due to not knowing what to expect. Here’s an outline of what you can plan for during your first therapy visit.

When you Get to the Office…
You’ll be greeted by our front desk staff, who will ask you to fill out some paperwork. You’ll also be given some forms to read over, detailing our office policies and your rights to confidentiality as a patient. Your therapist will go over some of this information with you as well in your first session, as well as go into more detail regarding some of the items in the paperwork. After you’ve completed the paperwork, just have a seat and wait for your therapist to meet you in our lobby!

Expect the first session to look different than future sessions.
During the first session, your therapist will likely ask a lot of questions, including what brings you into therapy, your current symptoms, your current goals for therapy, and some questions about your history, including your childhood, family, and important relationships.

You can ask questions too!
Finding the right therapist is all about fit. Make sure this is someone you can see yourself spending an hour with each week. The more you understand about the experience or how therapy works, the more comfortable you’ll be. Ask questions about the therapy process and ask the therapist to repeat anything you don’t understand.

Be as open and honest as you can.
It’s perfectly normal to feel as though you don’t want to disclose everything right away in the first session. Building a relationship and trusting someone enough to open up completely may take more than one hour. Discussing personal topics can sometimes make you feel vulnerable and uncomfortable.  However, sharing your stories and disclosing the issues which brought you to therapy is part of process to get you to where you want to be.

But what if I don’t feel better after the first visit?
Therapy is a process; it often takes more than one visit to reach a specific goal or begin to feel like anything significant has changed. It’s also normal to sometimes leave a therapy session feeling “drained” or emotionally exhausted. Going to therapy is a lot like cleaning out a messy closet; sometimes, things can get a little messier before it looks and feels better. With some effort on your part and a strong relationship with your therapist, it can be a successful tool toward resolving problems.

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This post was written by Ashley Waters