Psychotherapy Services Montreal, Beaconsfield, and Westmount, Quebec
It may feel quite daunting when you go to your first therapy session, particularly if this is your first experience with therapy. I will describe the process in the hope that it may ease some of the anxiety. The first few sessions are meant as exploratory work, where I get to know more about the issues that have brought you to therapy, your personal history, and where we mutually get to know each other. After these first two or three sessions we will agree to a regular timeline: number of sessions, date and time, etc.
Once we establish the schedule of sessions it is important to note that these times will be reserved for you alone and as such you will be charged for any missed appointments. Please note that I will do everything possible to reschedule your appointment in the same week if I have 24 hours notice from you. Consistency is very important in the therapeutic work but I will nonetheless try to accommodate your unforeseen scheduling changes if I can.
Typically the sessions are 50 minutes long. I will provide monthly receipts for insurance or tax purposes but do keep in mind that every insurance policy is different and you will have to verify with your carrier whether it is covered. Some clients prefer not to use their benefits for therapy in order to keep their issues completely private and out of the insurance databases. Also, it is noteworthy that insurance companies usually only cover a very limited number of sessions.
Although you are free to end your therapy at any time, in my experience it is most helpful to you if we can discuss you desire to stop as soon as possible. I will respect your decision but it is important that your therapy end well and I have found that it is often preferable if we can dedicate a few sessions to review the work that we have done together and how you see things going forward. It will be my pleasure to provide you with any resources I can to help you on the next part of your journey.