Starting therapy can be weird.
You’re meeting a stranger and, within a relatively short period of time, you may be telling them things you don’t talk about with many other people. It makes sense if you’re not entirely sure how this is supposed to work.
Here are a few things you should know before your first session.
You don’t need to know where to start.
That’s part of our job.
Your therapist will ask questions to learn more about what brought you in, what life looks like right now, and what you’d like some help with. There may be questions about your history, relationships, health, symptoms, or previous experiences with therapy.
You don’t need to organize everything into a perfectly coherent story first.
You also don’t need to have a great answer to “What are your goals?”
Maybe you know exactly what you want to work on.
Or maybe your answer is closer to: “I don’t know. I just don’t want to keep feeling like this.”
We can work with that.
Part of therapy is figuring out what’s happening, what matters to you, and what might actually help.
You don’t have to tell us everything on day one.
Your therapist needs enough information to understand what’s going on and provide appropriate care—but trust takes time.
You’re allowed to say, “There’s more to that, but I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”
That’s useful information, too.
You might cry. You might not.
Both are completely fine.
You might laugh at something you didn’t expect to laugh about. You might leave feeling relieved, tired, hopeful, uncomfortable, or mostly like you just gave a stranger the world’s fastest summary of your life.
There isn’t a correct emotional response to your first therapy appointment.
And yes, you can ask us questions.
Therapy isn’t something being done to you.
Ask about how your therapist works. Tell them if something doesn’t make sense. If you’re worried about something, say it. And as therapy continues, tell us what’s helping—and what isn’t.
A good therapeutic relationship has room for those conversations.
Mostly, just show up.
You don’t need the right words, a perfectly defined problem, or a five-year plan.
Come as you are. We’ll start there.