I’ve Set Up My First Therapy Appointment, Now What?

That’s great! Setting up the appointment can be a daunting step in the therapeutic process, but you did it! The anticipation leading up to the appointment can also feel intimidating no matter how many times you’ve been to therapy before. If entering into a new therapeutic process feels this way to you, I’ll be going through what the process of therapy looks like (specifically here at Greenway, but the process may look similar at other practices as well), what you need to bring to therapy, and what your therapist will bring to therapy.

The Process

At Greenway Therapy, you’ll have gotten documents to sign, this is most likely (hopefully) the case at other practices too. Those outline the policies of the practice, your therapist’s qualifications, and other things to be informed of about the process. Once you sign those, your therapist will go over the informed consent documents verbally in the first session before beginning treatment such as what we do in case of crisis, the limits to confidentiality, and what to expect if you need to cancel or are running late. This is a great time to ask any questions about the therapeutic process. After the informed consent has been gone over, this is when your therapist will start to gain insight into your choice to begin the therapeutic process, may ask about your life history, and ask about what goals you have for therapy. The first session might not feel revolutionary (then again, it might, it just depends), but over time change will start to occur.

The second session and forward will be more consistent with what your average therapy session will be like. This is when you and the therapist collaborate with each other to work towards the goals you set in the first session. This collaboration may include gaining insight and self-awareness, practicing skills in session, and/or being sent home with skills to practice outside of session.

Okay, so I kind of understand the process, but you said I needed to bring something with me?

What You Need to Bring to Therapy

You don’t need to bring anything physical to therapy besides yourself. Something that is helpful for you to bring is willingness to participate in the therapeutic process. We all have varying degrees of willingness to participate in the therapeutic process (and that’s okay!); just bringing a little will make a big difference. No matter what degree of willingness you have, we are so proud of you for making, or even contemplating, the decision to come to therapy.

For those of you who were looking for a checklist of physical items to bring (all are optional):

• Notebook
• Pen
• Water
• Fun non-alcoholic beverage of your choosing
• Comfy clothes

So, those are all of the things I can bring, what about my therapist?

What Your Therapist Will Bring to Therapy

Your therapist will bring many things including, but not limited to: empathy, listening, boundary setting, and lots of questions. There are many more things that your specific therapist may bring to your session, but we’re all different and we all have different qualities that we bring to the room.

Your therapist may bring some physical items as well that you may want to be prepared for, especially if this is your first time in therapy. The therapist may bring a laptop or notebook to write down notes from the session, all of which are safely kept in a secure electronic health record (EHR) here at Greenway. Your therapist may also bring themselves water, a fun non-alcoholic beverage of their choosing (I personally like to bring an iced latte of some sort), and comfy clothes.

I feel a little more prepared, is that it? What if I have other questions?

I have laid out a general idea of what starting therapy can look like, of course, each practice and therapist could have different ways of doing things.

If you have other questions, feel free to contact the admins of Greenway Therapy at admin@greenwaytherapy.com or 800-353-6402.

Again, I am so proud of you for making your first appointment, that is such a big step towards meeting your goals and it can be one of the harder steps!