Deciding to consult a therapist about your difficulties is a significant and perhaps scary step, so it is important to know what to expect. Here, I aim to give a thorough overview of the initial consultation/assessment, but do ask for clarification if you need it.

practicalities:

The initial consultation is three sessions spaced a week (or thereabouts) apart. Each session is 50 minutes long – the standard length of psychotherapy sessions.

The time between sessions allows both therapist and prospective client time to reflect on what was discussed in the last session, and to see what has come up in our minds in the time between sessions. This might include thoughts and memories, but also dreams.

Key areas explored in the consultation session:

Although there are many overlaps, initial meetings are different from standard therapy sessions. They are more structured, and the therapist is more directive and focused in guiding the client through the areas that need to be discussed. These include:

  • Hopes for therapy – what you want to change about your life and what has prompted you to seek therapy at this point.

  • Early life experiences, including your birth. These experiences can powerfully shape how we relate to ourselves, others and the world now, so are important to consider.

  • Traumatic experiences – we won’t go into any experience in detail during the initial consultation, but it is important to acknowledge their presence at this stage.

  • Past experiences of therapy/counselling, if any, and what helped/didn’t help.

  • Your current situation concerning important relationships and responsibilities (e.g., as a carer of young children or elderly parents).

  • Your work and home situation.

  • What support systems you have around you – therapy can bring up difficult, challenging, and painful feelings, so it is important to think about how you will manage this outside of sessions.

  • Actions that put you at risk of harm. Past/present self-harm or suicidal feelings/actions are not a deal breaker regarding therapy in private practice, but they are important to think about together.

What the assessment doesn’t cover:

  • I am not qualified to make psychiatric diagnoses or diagnose mental health difficulties, or advise on medication.

  • Similarly, although I am an attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist, I am not qualified to diagnose a person’s attachment style. What I am more focused on is how a person’s early relationships have shaped how they experience the world through the lens of attachment theory, and how that impacts them now.

fee:

£90 per session, unless otherwise agreed.