Beginning Therapy Together: Expectations for Sessions 1-6
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
So you're thinking of beginning therapy? It's important to acknowledge the brave first step that you're taking toward healing and personal growth. Choosing to embark on the therapeutic journey is a true act of self-care and should be celebrated.
You may feel a variety of emotions as you prepare yourself for your first session, spanning from
excitement and hope, to trepidation and skepticism. Remind yourself that these emotions are
expected when beginning work with a new therapist, and can and should be addressed within the
therapy space, to ensure you feel comfortable and supported in the early stages of treatment.
My name is Bailey Boggs, and I am an LMFT-Associate therapist at Georgetown Counseling and Wellness, in Georgetown, TX. My Marriage and Family Associate counseling license has given me training and experience working with many populations and ages.I work with children ages 6 and up, teens, adults and couples. In my counseling work, I draw from an Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) framework. This means that in our time together, we’ll explore the present stressors and experiences in your everyday life, while gently moving toward a deeper understanding of the emotions connected to both your current and past experiences. We’ll work collaboratively to slow things down, creating space to notice and make sense of important emotions, behavioral patterns, and relational dynamics that may be leaving you feeling “stuck.” You don’t need to have the “right words” or a clear starting point; we’ll figure that out together.
Session 1: Getting to Know You
During our first session, we’ll spend some time reviewing your new client paperwork to ensure
you feel informed about clinical procedures and confidentiality. We may also take a few
moments for brief introductions, getting to know one another through a bit of personal
background and even a few light “fun facts” to help ease into the process.
For the remainder of the session, we’ll move at your pace and focus on whatever feels most
comfortable and relevant for you to share. It’s important to remember that you’re meeting with
someone new, and it’s completely natural to feel hesitant about opening up right away. There is
no expectation to share your entire story in the first session.
To better understand your goals for therapy, I may ask questions about what brought you in, as
well as any current or past challenges and stressors you’ve been experiencing. If time allows, we
may also begin to explore your family or relationship history. My goal for our first session is to create a space that feels calm, supportive, and as low-stress as possible.
Sessions 2-3: Assessment- Understanding Patterns and Emotional Experiences
During sessions 2 and 3, we’ll begin to slow things down and take a closer look at relevant
behavioral, emotional, and relational patterns. We’ll also explore meaningful dynamics from
your family and childhood to better understand how earlier experiences may still be shaping your
present-day thoughts, relationships, and responses, sometimes outside of your awareness. I may
ask some of the following questions, to gain a clearer picture of your lived experience:
❖ “Can you tell me a bit about your family growing up?”
❖ “How were emotions typically expressed or handled in your home?”
❖ “What did conflict look like in your family?”
❖ “How did you learn to cope with stress or difficult emotions?”
❖ “Are there any significant relationships that have shaped you in important ways?”
❖ “How do you tend to respond when you feel hurt or misunderstood?”
❖ “What has connection or support looked like for you in the past?”
❖ “Are there any experiences that feel especially important for me to understand about
you?”
During this stage of treatment, we are building a foundational understanding that allows me to better support you. This groundwork helps ensure that when we move into more emotionally focused processing, our work feels intentional and grounded in your lived experiences.
Sessions 3-4: Clarifying Therapeutic Goals
Sessions 3 and 4 are typically reserved for collaborative treatment planning. Therapeutic
literature frequently stresses the importance of establishing clear goals, as these provide the
clinician and client with structure to track client progress.
During this time, we will discuss what you wish to explore, process, or gain while in treatment
and establish goals which feel meaningful to you. Your therapist will translate your
communicated desires into attainable S.M.A.R.T goals, meaning they are specific, measurable,
achievable, relevant, and time-bound.
Therapeutic progress towards communicated goals can be reviewed as needed or every 90 days.
By frequently reviewing your progress, we can consider life circumstances, patterns, or relational
dynamics which may be influencing your progress and make thoughtful adjustments to the
written treatment plan as needed.
Sessions 4-6: Beginning the Deeper Work
Following the creation of your initial treatment plan, you may start to notice our work together
beginning to feel less introductory and more intentional. By this point, my hope as your therapist
would be that we have started the process of building a strong therapeutic rapport and that we
can slowly begin to deepen the emotional processing during our time together.
This may look like slowly inviting your inner child into the room with us, or processing in real
time, a recent conflict or stressful life event. We will make space for your emotions as they
present themselves and collaborate to increase effective forms of coping. Furthermore, we will
work to increase awareness of relevant patterns which may evoke specific behavioral and
emotional reactions.
This phase will look different for everyone, and you may even start to feel small shifts in your
sense of well-being by this point. As we move forward, we will make space for whatever life
brings your way, while also integrating work towards your therapeutic goals.
The initial 4–6 sessions within the therapeutic journey can oftentimes feel the most intimidating.
I hope I have provided you with a sense of clarity and confidence as you move
forward in starting your therapy journey. If you are ready to begin creating stronger bonds with
yourself and others, I would be honored to join you in that journey. Healing and growth are
possible, and you do not have to do it alone.
