FAQs
It’s totally normal to be nervous about starting therapy. It can be difficult to share your innermost experience with someone you’ve never met before. The fear around that can feel overwhelming. Being proactive and open to support when you’re struggling and don’t have all the answers is such a resilient thing to do, even when it’s difficult to do.
Therapy is a place where you can be yourself and bring up whatever is going on for you, including feeling nervous. We’re committed to finding a way to care for your nerves and ensure sessions are as comfortable as possible.
I’m here if you want to talk about it.
Take your time to read through my website. If you sense that we may be a good fit based on what you are reading, I welcome you to email me.
You can ask what a typical session with is like, or any other questions you may have that are specific-to-you. You’ll also be able to speak to what’s bothering you and we can share ideas around how we can help you.
The first few sessions are meant to get to know one another and to see if there’s a good connection for ongoing work. During the sessions, you’ll be able to see how you feel working together. My approach is not meant to work perfectly for everyone. What’s most important is that you find someone who you feel is the right fit for you. We can explore that together.
It’s normal if you don’t feel ready to share everything right away. During our sessions, It may be useful to practice talking about the things that are difficult and painful, and pacing that is up to you. We will collaborate on understanding what you feel ready to open up about. Together we will work through the difficult stuff.
You can also share with me that you are nervous to open up about something and we can talk about that too. Whenever you have a lot of feelings about something, you are welcome to discuss them in session.
If you open up about something difficult, we will not think you are too much or wrong for struggling. We are strength based in our approach and see people who risk opening up as strong and courageous. Many people share the same fear (that people would think they are too much or wrong for struggling.).
Nothing you can say will cause us to judge you.
We all struggle, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, and we all need help sometimes.
Whatever it is you’re going through, we provide a comfortable space where we will listen to you and offer our full support.
You might be asking about how long therapy will take because therapy is hard to fit into your busy schedule or you like to know what to expect to feel more comfortable with the process.
If this is true for you, we want you to know that on average, many people start seeing positive effects after the first 3-5 sessions.
By that point, they usually feel at least a little more calm and hopeful that healing is possible.
The total duration of therapy varies from client to client. Some of people find several months to be enough to gain insight into their struggles or relationship challenges. While others feel more supported by longer term therapy.
We will work together to find the length of time that works for you.
Overall, you can think of the first session as a free-flowing conversation through which we start getting to know each other. We’ll invite you to share more about yourself and we can also talk about what’s worked or not worked for you in terms of support or coping tools in the past.
Some questions we may ask during a first session include:
Have you gone to therapy before? How did that go?
What goals would you like to reach by going to therapy?
What do we need to know about you to understand your current challenges?
You can ask questions as well. You might be curious about my background, training or what future sessions beyond the getting to know you phase will be like.
The most important part of a first session is to experience what therapy is like with your therapist. If you feel supported, seen, and at-ease, we can discuss if you’d like to continue.
We’re here to talk as a first step. We’ll respond if you reach out and we’ll have a phone conversation about what’s bothering you. We can also share ideas around how we can help you.
Email to schedule an initial call contact@theconsciouspartnership.com.
Good Faith Estimate Statement
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost. Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy services. You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency healthcare services, including psychotherapy services. You can ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service. If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate. For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.
