Clare Finn
The first counselling session

The first 60 minute session is a little different from the rest. This is your first introduction to the safe, structured space at Curlew Counselling, designed to help you feel understood, give you opportunity to ask further questions, and to help us get to know each other and to begin to develop the therapeutic bond.

We’ll begin by exploring what has brought you to counselling — the areas of distress in your life, how they’re affecting you day-to-day, and what you’re hoping might change. You’re welcome to share as much or as little as feels comfortable; we move at your pace.

I will carry out two short assessments to help me understand your emotional well-being and acquire any relevant background information to help identify the support you may need. Please understand this is not a diagnosis – it is a way of helping me build a clear picture of your experiences for me to work safely and effectively with you.

Together, we’ll start shaping a plan of action. This might include identifying themes you’d like to explore and approaches that may help you feel more grounded and open to the process. This is fluid and can change as you identify different things during the course of the sessions.

If you are happy to continue with the counselling process, we will discuss the Working Agreement (contract) for which we both sign copies to keep. This outlines the terms of our counselling sessions and we will go through this carefully so you can ask questions.

The aim of the first session is for you to leave the session feeling heard, informed and with a sense of what our work together could look like.
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