The Anatomy of a Session

 For anyone who hasn’t attended therapy before, it can be quite unfamiliar and daunting! Not knowing what it will be like, whether you need to prepare anything, should you have any questions, and generally knowing what to expect. So my hope in writing this blog post is that it gives you some peace of mind about what the initial therapy session is like with us at CCAT. I can’t say for certain whether a first session with a therapist outside of CCAT will be completely the same as this little guideline, but it’ll definitely look similar – so keep reading whether you want to work with us or someone else! We’re here to help either way!

Consultation Call

·      CCAT offer a free 15-minute consultation when you first enquire about therapy with us. This is an opportunity for us to give you a call and find out a little more about your needs and to discuss what we can offer, whether we can meet need and what the next steps are.

·      You don’t need to prepare anything for this call (unless you want to). We will ask all the questions, all you have to do is answer, and if you don’t know the answer, that is also absolutely fine!

·      In the call we will discuss topics such as why you want to start therapy, which type of therapy you are interested in, availability, any previous experience of therapy you might have had and what your self-care looks like at the moment.

·      This is also an opportunity for you to ask as many questions as you would like if you have any. Please see our separate post ‘Good Questions To Ask Your Therapist Before or During The Initial Session’ for suggestions of what to ask

Before The Initial Session  

·      After your consultation call, CCAT will send you across potential therapist options and their available time slots. We recommend having a look at our team page to read about our therapists and see if any of them stand out to you.

·      Once you have chosen your therapist and time slot, we will send over a couple of documents for you to fill out. These include a terms of service contract and a referral form. This just gives our therapists a bit more of a background to you so they can prepare for the first session. If there is anything you don’t want to share on the referral form, you do not have to! Only share as much as you feel comfortable with.

·      We will also provide you with our safeguarding, confidentiality and GDPR policies should you wish to read those.

·      We recommend you jot down a few notes of anything you want to discuss or ask in the first session. We find that new clients can sometimes be a bit nervous and can forget things they want to bring up during the initial session, so having a little list on a piece of paper or in your notes app on your phone can be really helpful!

·      We also recommend you make sure to leave a bit of free time after the first session if at all possible (though we understand this is not always possible). This is to give you a bit of breathing room and time to process after your first experience of therapy.

·      If you have any questions, you want answering before the first session, do not hesitate to drop us an email and we will get back to you as quick as possible!

Initial Session

·      You don’t need to bring anything with you unless you want to. All materials and equipment (for creative therapies e.g. art supplies, music instruments etc) are provided by the therapist. If you have favourite things you want to bring, please do, but don’t feel you have to.

·      The only thing we might recommend you bring is a bottle of water. Or if you want to make any notes for yourself you might want to bring a little notebook. But you can always ask for paper and a pen in the session if you don’t have a notebook.

·      If you are having therapy at your home location, the therapist will arrive 5 minutes early to set up anything you might use in the session. Make sure you have a quite space where you won’t be disturbed for the session.

·      If you are attending the session at the therapy site, please do not turn up more than a few minutes early. The therapist will be expecting you and will meet you at the door at your allocated time slot.

·      Your therapist will be wearing a CCAT lanyard and will have their ID, DBS and qualification registration number. For any school settings or other settings that ask for it, a letter of assurance will also be provided.

·      In the session the therapist will greet you and make sure you are comfortable and make any adjustments to lighting, seating etc.

·      The therapist will likely go over and confirm details from the referral form such as current therapy goals, any diagnoses or symptoms you might experience, your history and current daily life.

·      The therapist will go through the boundaries of the sessions which include GDPR, confidentiality, and safeguarding.

·      Feel free to ask any questions you might have as they come up.

·      There is no pressure, only share what you want to as you are in control.

·      The therapist might discuss goal setting or explore what you want to gain from therapy.

·      If the client is a child or has SEND or requires a carer/parent/guardian to support with some of the discussion points this will take place before the session starts.

·      Overall, the first session is always a bit of a ‘get to know each other’. If there is anything you do not want to share or explore at any point, please do just indicate this and the therapist will move on.

After The Initial Session

·      Take a bit of time to yourself over the next couple days to reflect and think about the therapy session. Notice how you feel, any follow up thoughts or questions that might have come up.

·      Have a think about whether you feel happy and comfortable with the therapist allocated to you.

·      After a couple days, our administrator or your therapist will be in touch to check in to see how you feel after the first session. This is your opportunity to ask any follow-up questions or ask to try a different therapist.

·      Do not be afraid to ask to try a different therapist – we will not be offended if you ask this! Not all therapists work for everyone, and you need to be comfortable with who you are working with; fit matters.

·      If you are happy with your allocated therapist, we will confirm you are happy to continue and get you booked in for your regular time slot!

Final Thoughts

·      Therapy must work for you, so don’t be afraid to ask as many questions as you want, try out different therapists if you want, or even different types of therapy.

·      The CCAT Team are all super friendly and here to help! If we can’t accommodate the availability you need, we have a list of other therapists and businesses who might be able to help. Therapy is for everyone, and we want to make sure you get the right fit for you and your needs, even if it means it’s not with us!

·      We know starting therapy can seem scary and overwhelming but just know we want to make this as easy and stress free as possible for you, so just let us know if there is anything we can do to help the process.

·      We operate using a humanist person-centred approach, so if there is anything you don’t feel ready to address in therapy, please say so and we won’t push until you’re ready. You are in charge!

Hopefully all these points help you to get a bit of a picture of the initial process and what the first session will include. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch to ask! We’re here to help and our priority is to make therapy as accessible as possible.

Rach and the CCAT Team x