What To Expect At Your First Session

So you have made an appointment, what happens next? When you arrive for your first appointment you will be given a form to fill out with your details and some other information about what brought you here. Additionally I will ask you to complete the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale which measures any symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress you are currently experiencing and gives me an idea of how severe those symptoms might be. I will use this again later in treatment to monitor any changes. This helps me to adjust treatment if necessary.

When I sit down with you I will ask more questions about what brought you here to get an idea of when it started, what might make it better, what might make it worse, and how it impacts on your life. I will also ask questions about your personal history such as your experience of growing up, school, work, relationships, alcohol and drug use. These questions help me to build up a picture of who you are and some of the factors that are impacting positively and negatively on your current situation. This process may take longer than one session.

Subsequent sessions focus on working together to form a picture of what might be affecting your current situation. From here, treatment is aimed at reducing the influence of these things.