It's very common to feel a little apprehensive before the first session. Having a sense of what you might talk about can help people feel more prepared. The first, and sometimes also second, session is an assessment session. During an assessment session(s) we would talk in more depth about the difficulties that have brought you to see a psychologist. I'd be curious to learn about things that may have contributed to the problem developing and also what things in your life may be keeping it going. We would also cover other areas of your life to build up a bit of a background picture such as general information about family, your work and any relevant medical history. I would ask about any previous contact with any kind of mental health professional. If you have had psychological therapy or counselling in the past, I'd be curious about what was helpful or unhelpful about that. I'd also ask about ways in which you cope currently with difficult thoughts and feelings - the things you do already that help. We'd also talk about your expectations and hopes for therapy and any goals that you have.  

And finally I'll want to know a bit about what are the things that are going well in your life - what gives you a sense of pleasure or fulfilment. As well as the things that you want less of in your life (likely the difficult thoughts and feelings), what is it that would you like more of?

I think it is important to have a focus and not work in a completely open-ended way and so for this reason, following the assessment session, I will normally suggest we plan to have a certain number of sessions. This is often between 4-6 sessions but in some situations might be just one further session. At this point we would then evaluate the work we've done and review the possibility of further sessions. 

In some situations, if it is helpful to the person, and this is what they want, then our sessions can continue longer-term but may be less frequent. For others, a more intense burst of weekly sessions might be what they need. There are many factors which affect how many sessions a person might have, an important one being your view on what you want, need and can afford.

The way I work is always tailored to the individual. Generally speaking though, the way I work is quite active. This means that I may encourage you to do some reading, watch video clips or look at certain websites outside of our sessions. I believe that, whilst much work takes place within the session time, much of the growing happens in the time between the sessions. Because this is where life happens. 

This is always on your terms though and there is no expectation that you ‘should’ do anything. You take responsibility for what and how much you want to do. I believe that you are the best expert on yourself and you know what it is that you need. I have many different tools and techniques at my disposal and may make various suggestions. But different ideas resonate with different people and so my mantra is ‘take what’s useful and leave the rest!’

Ending therapy can be difficult but it will always happen at some point and so I think it's worth acknowledging and planning for right from the beginning. I hope that the work we do together will equip you with skills and confidence that you can draw on from within yourself and to that end, I see success in my role as effectively doing myself out of a job! 

If following a session you decide you do not want to continue, this is absolutely your choice and you have the right to discontinue therapy at any point. If possible however I would always encourage endings to be planned for. If you decide you want to end the sessions sooner than originally agreed please let me know. We would ideally have at least one final session in which to summarise the work we've done and for you to feedback on your experience of therapy. 

I currently work exclusively online.