What to expect from therapy in Wakefield: When you want expert and compassionate care

Finding the right Wakefield therapist can be easy!

Even if you have already been in therapy, starting therapy with a new therapist can feel daunting. Hopefully the idea of getting your needs met feels really exciting, yet going through all the logistical steps of finding a therapist can be tedious and leave you worrying about what will come next. This article will describe what you can expect from your consultation and into starting therapy, so you can feel more prepared to get started.

I am here to make the process feel easier to approach!

What to expect from your first consultation with a therapist in Wakefield

Most therapists offer a free consultation before starting therapy to ensure that you are likely to fit well together and to sort out some of the logistics like scheduling. See my earlier article on What to Expect for more details on the consultation call.

Whenever you feel ready to schedule your first appointment, you will arrange that with the therapist and they will guide you through what they need from you in order to start. Therapists vary on what they like to get from clients in advance versus in the first appointment.

For me, I send people information on how to get set up in the online portal system, which gives people access to documents, scheduling and more. This allows people to get set up with all the logistics for payment as well. I also send all the consent forms as there are a lot details that need to be covered and I find it best for people to get to digest this information on their own time. I also send a lengthy background form to ask questions about general matters such as education, work, marital status, general family relationships, interests/hobbies, medical information and more. While this can take a long time to fill out, it really helps me get to know some key structures in someone’s life and helps save more time in the first session for more individual topics, goal-setting and following-up on any of the areas that I have more questions. Other therapists prefer to review all of this together in the first session and will let you know if there is nothing more to do than arrive on time for the first appointment.

What to expect in the first session with a therapist in Wakefield

Usually a first session will include reviewing the key items of information included in the consent to ensure that you are aware of them and clarifying any important background information. Then, a therapist will usually explore your reasons for seeking therapy in more detail and may even get into goal-setting for therapy. The first session tends to feel like it goes quickly, and will end with making a plan for any remaining paperwork and planning future sessions, including confirming how frequently to meet.

With me, I tend to do everything above in order to feel like I have a chance to get to know you, not only through some of the basics but also how you seem to feel when discussing these topics. For example, if I ask someone, “how did you like going to school at xyz university?” someone might look off wistfully and immediately describe their fondness for years spent meeting new people, living close to them, learning and becoming more independent. Or they might shake their head and describe how they couldn’t wait to get out of there because they felt so out of place and couldn’t stand being in a classroom environment. This certainly doesn’t tell me everything about someone, but it may hint at their values, how they prefer to learn and how they prefer to connect with others.

Then I will usually focus on questions like “What brings you to therapy now? Why now and not 2 months ago or 2 months from now?” Depending on your reasons for seeking therapy, I will ask about what changes you hope to experience that would have you feel ready to end therapy. I always say that everyone has a different version of what “better” looks like and I want to know your version to ensure I help move us in the right direction.

As we wind down our time, we will discuss plans for future sessions. We will usually have discussed in the phone consultation that I prefer to start meeting weekly with people and then decrease as we see fit. This allows us to get to know one another and get to work on the most important changes that are desired. As the process gets more natural and you find yourself solving your own challenges on your own, we plan to decrease therapy until we mutually decide you are ready to end.

How long does someone work with a therapist in Wakefield?

This can vary from as short as a weekend intensive to decades of therapy. It really is a huge range in the field and depends on the challenges that have brought someone to therapy. Coping with adjustment to a new medical diagnosis is likely to look really different from managing ongoing effects of bipolar disorder, though again, there can be a big range. The duration of therapy is based both on the challenges bringing someone to therapy as well as the therapist’s style and approach. Some therapists only see people for a structured 12-week period of time, almost like taking a course. Other therapists prefer years-long relationships and others have a ton of variability in how long they see people.

For me, I have a fair amount of variability in how long I see individuals. Other than major changes like moving, scheduling or financial barriers, the shortest I see folks tends to be for about three months and there are some people that I have seen for years. Usually if we have met for over a year, we move to less frequently than weekly, though that is not always the case. It really depends! This is something that I am always happy to discuss with anyone I am working with at any point in the therapy process. I often initiate the conversation but I am welcome to you initiating it if the question is on your mind. We might discuss changes you still want to see to know you would be ready to end and make sure we are on track to be making those changes. Some changes take time and repetition is important. Interacting with your world in new ways is not always intuitive and it can take time to really have the changes you want become more natural and reliable. I am here for you until you trust those changes are firmly in place.

Similarly, I am open to people coming back to me for therapy if they either feel like they lost progress for some reason, or, more commonly, if they are facing a new challenge in life they simply can’t get through the way that they want. I am always honored when someone chooses to return and these are often shorter periods of time that we work together.

Do I need to prepare for therapy sessions?

Maybe? Not a very satisfying answer, but like many things therapy-related, it depends! It depends on what works for you, what works for your therapist and what works for you both together. Some forms of therapy have very strict homework and therapists will be very clear that they expect you to complete homework in between sessions as it is how they measure progress and determine what to focus on in each session. Other therapists will rarely assign homework beyond reflecting on the session and integrating it into your own life. And many therapists are somewhere in the middle with between-session work varying over the course of therapy.

In general, your therapist is likely to be clear with you about what they expect you to do between sessions in order to get the best results. It is also really important that you feel like you can discuss what feels realistic and helpful to you, which may mean more or less preparation.

If you are the kind of person who likes to stay fairly organized and clear about things, then I suggest you discuss with your therapist if it would be helpful for you to keep notes during the week on things you want to discuss. If you can’t stand any sort of tracking, then it is important to work with your therapist on this to make sure you can make the most of therapy without this tracking.

With me, I feel like preparation is really relevant to who the person is I’m working with, what we are working on and how we are working on it. For example, if I am working with you on insomnia, I am likely to really, really want you to log certain things about your sleep and if you are having trouble doing this, we will probably spent a fair amount of time in session troubleshooting this in order to make sure we can get those logs so that I can then make appropriate recommendations for insomnia-related care.

On the other hand, if I am working with someone on general topics of how a trauma continues to impact their life in undesired ways, we may focus a session on understanding something that happened in a new way, and the recommendation I give between sessions will generally be to integrate that new awareness, maybe find a place to write it down to return to it in the future, and otherwise notice what positive changes that awareness allows.

Often, I will open sessions by asking what has been better since the last session. Sometimes, people love to keep a running list of this to prepare. Others find life chaotic and can only stop to reflect on this once they are in session. By having the time protected to do this, they can readily reflect and explore what is important to them. I always feel that therapy has to fit your life and preparation is no exception to that.

A free consultation with a therapist in Wakefield

You deserve help from someone who knows how to help someone in your circumstances. Therapy goes beyond chatting to help you reach your goals and make meaningful, lasting changes in your life.

Whether you are entering therapy for the first time or looking to reconnect with the process, I offer a welcoming, supportive space to explore your challenges and goals. With the flexibility of in-person and online therapy, we can find a space for therapy in your lifestyle and schedule. You deserve the help that therapy can provide.

Specializing in working with young adults and adults during life transitions as well as with caregivers, I am committed to finding strategies to have you feeling your best. Are you ready to take the next step? Let’s connect over a free, 15-minute phone consultation for therapy in Wakefield.