What to expect from
counseling?
Counseling may sound scary, especially if you have not been in counseling before or if you had a negative experience with a counselor in the past. Here is some information about the counseling process that may help you to get a sense of what to expect and decide whether or not you are ready to seek help.
Initial appointment (Intake): First session (also called intake session) is scheduled to gather information about your, your child's, or your family's struggles and needs. During this session, you will also receive information about my therapy approach and get answers to any questions you may have.
Intake session is longer than regular sessions (75 - 90 minutes rather than 50 minutes). This will allow me to get to know you and/or your family, and allow you to have a better understanding of what the therapy process will look like.
Sessions after the intake: During the intake session, we will decide how often you or your family member need to attend therapy sessions. The frequency of the sessions may vary from four times a week to twice a month depending on your and your family's needs.
Each session will be 50 minutes long. However, 90-minute sessions can also be scheduled depending on your needs and my availabilities.
Weekend appointments are available to accommodate your busy schedule and to make sure that your child's school attendance is not impacted by his/her therapy appointments.
Therapy process: Therapy process will have several layers, such as gathering information about the issues that you or your family has been going through, helping you understand the nature and possible reasons for having these problems, helping you and your family learn skills to cope with emotional and behavioral symptoms, and working together to find solutions to your or your family's problems.
Your opinions about what is important to focus on during the treatment is very important for success. So, we will work together to come up with a treatment plan and I will help you achieve YOUR goals during the therapy process.
The length of therapy and graduation: The length of the therapy depends on the individual needs and severity of the problem. We will work together to decide what will be the best time for you or your family member to graduate from counseling.
You can decide to end therapy anytime. However, in order to ensure your and/or your family's emotional well-being, I will share my professional opinion with you about the best time for graduation from therapy.