How To Guides · 01
How to prepare for your first counselling session
Preparing for a first counselling session takes about ten minutes. Decide the one thing you most want to be different, note when the problem started and what you have already tried, complete the intake form honestly, arrange a private space and fifty uninterrupted minutes, and arrive without a script.
Step by step
- 01Name the one thingWrite a single sentence: "I want ____ to be different." It does not have to be the whole story — it gives the session a starting point instead of an hour of scene-setting.
- 02Note the history in three linesWhen it started, what makes it worse, what you have already tried. Three lines is enough; a chronology is not required.
- 03Do the intake form honestlyUnder-reporting on the form costs a session of catching up. Nothing on it is used for anything but planning your care.
- 04Set up the spaceA room where you will not be overheard, headphones, a charged device, water and tissues. Being overheard changes what you allow yourself to say.
- 05Leave the script at homeYou will be asked questions. Rehearsed accounts tend to protect the very thing worth looking at, so let the conversation go where it goes.
Most people are more nervous before the first session than at any point afterwards. That is normal and it usually lifts within the first ten minutes, once you realise nothing is being extracted from you.
By the end of the session you should have two or three goals and a rough plan. If you do not, say so — that is useful information about fit, and it is better raised in session one than session six.
Questions
What if I cannot say it out loud?+
Write it down and hand it over, or say "it is on the form". Plenty of first sessions start that way.
Should I bring anything?+
Nothing is required. Some people bring a list of questions or a note from a GP; both are welcome, neither is expected.
Related service
Individual Counselling
One-to-one time to work out what is actually going on — and what you want to do about it.
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