What to Expect From Your First Few Sessions

Thank you allowing CARE to be apart of your journey. We recognize the decision to go to therapy can be very difficult and our team wants to support you as much as we can. 

Below is a client friendly explanation of the first several sessions for therapy.  We hope this will be helpful in setting appropriate expectations.  If you have any additional questions please email us at info@care-clinics.com or call us at 612-223-8898, option 1 to speak to a real Minnesotan.

Reviewing Your Paperwork

Please watch the view for an explanation of the new client paperwork you’ll need to fill out prior to your first appointment. If you have any questions please call (612)223-8898 or your clinician can help during your first appointment. 

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THERAPY?

It’s a conversation where you and a trained professional dive into how you are feeling and work to help you learn skills or gain comfort with the elements of your life/health that are hindering your happiness. Realistically, it is going to be weird at first. Therapy starts as a conversation with a complete stranger and you are asked to share the most personal elements of your life; but it gets way better over time as you create a relationship with a professional who is exclusively focused on helping you to improve your life experience by leveraging their years of training.

Pro-tip: most people use the terms therapy, counseling, & psychotherapy interchangeably…we do outpatient therapy which is basically an hour processing with a clinician.

What happens in the first several sessions?

The first few sessions, the clinician is trying to gather information. You’ll be asked some basic questions so that your clinician can get to know you and find out what you’d like to get out of therapy (how to measure it’s helpful to you). You may find it beneficial to share things about your current challenges, past life experiences, or important aspects of your identity. In the second and third sessions, your clinician will help make a “road map” which is a plan with goals or topics that you’d like to focus on in therapy.

HOW CAN I GET THE MOST OUT OF THERAPY?

Therapy only works if you keep doing it. You have to actively participate, show vulnerability, and know that a therapist’s job is to help you find an answer, not give you one. Beyond that, it is important that you discuss how to continue therapeutic growth with your counselor and tell them when things don’t feel like they are working.  For example, we can show you 100 methods to calm down when you are anxious…only 1 has to work.

The magic really starts to happen after you get past treatment planning (third appointment).

Continuing Education at CARE!

CARE Counseling is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. CARE maintains the responsibility for this program and its content.

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