You’ve taken the first and the biggest step; you’ve reached out for help and booked a session with a psychologist. As the appointment gets closer, you start feeling a bit uncertain- What will it be like? What will they ask? What if I don’t like them? Here’s what you can expect from the first session with your psychologist.
There’ll be some paperwork for you to fill out. There’s some pretty standard information about yourself in the registration form (name, date of birth, address, etc), some consent forms for the cancellation policy and confidentiality and depending on your psychologist, there might be some questionnaires to screen for common mental health conditions.
Your psychologist will likely ask you lots of questions during the first session such as what’s been going on that brought you to therapy, your current symptoms and any other times that you’ve felt the same way. We might also ask about your past, your health, your family, school/ work/ daily life. The first session is primarily an assessment session where we’re trying to identify what’s been happening and the different areas of your life that have been impacted.
Sometimes, you’ve been holding so much emotional “stuff” in for so long, that when you finally get to sit down with your psychologist, it just all starts coming out. This is perfectly ok. Part of our job is to help you navigate this process and if that means you need the whole session (or more than 1 session!) to get all of that stuff out, we can come back to asking our more formalised questions next time. The initial session is also a time to get to know each other and see if we’re a right fit. It’s important to remember that psychologists are people, too! We have our own treatment styles and personalities and sometimes that means you may not vibe with the first one you see. If this happens, please know that it’s ok. It might feel uncomfortable, but having a conversation with them about how you’re feeling, your wants, needs and expectations for therapy can help to ensure that you’re both on the same page. If you decide that another psychologist might be a better fit, your psychologist can likely refer you to one of their colleagues.
