Making contact and first steps
The first step can feel like a huge deal.
It can take a lot of courage to make the decision to seek help, especially from someone you’ve never met before! However, it could be the best decision you make for your mental health, wellbeing and quality of life. Holding onto negative thoughts and feelings can take up a tremendous amount of energy. Opening up in a safe, confidential environment where you won’t be judged can significantly lighten your emotional burden.
- We’ll arrange a free, informal 10-15 minute consultation. This is usually conducted over the phone, but is also available via email, Zoom, WhatsApp, or Facebook Messenger. This pressure-free and no-obligation chat helps explore your needs and determine if counselling is the right approach for you.
- If another type of therapy might be more beneficial, we can discuss appropriate services.
- If we decide to proceed, we’ll agree on a time for our sessions. You can choose to meet me either online via Zoom or in person at my counselling room in Albaston. Please have look at my availability page to see the daytimes and evenings I am available.
- During our first session we can go through the counselling contract and sign the client counsellor agreement form. You might want to download it first from the useful documents page and fill in what you can prior to this first meeting.
Please have a look at the Counselling Stories page for a flavour of the counselling process. It might also be beneficial to go to the useful documents page to download and read the ‘getting the most out of counselling’ and ‘What to expect from your first and subsequent sessions’ documents.