FAQs
What if I don’t know what to talk about?
1
It can be difficult sometimes to find something we want to talk about, and sometimes talking at all can feel difficult, but more often that not something will emerge that we can work with, talking about certain things like hobbies and friendships can feel irrelevant or surface-level, but these comfortable topics lay the groundwork for understanding and can still be considered in a useful way. Additionally, the use of toys, games and art supplies can take some of the pressure off of having to get the words out.
Will you share any details of my sessions?
2
The key ingredient to psychodynamic work is in the therapeutic relationship, which must be built on trust and respect, to that end, everything shared in therapy sessions will be kept confidential unless I have reason to suspect that you are a danger to yourself or someone else, in which case we will discuss next steps before any action is taken. That said, the content of our sessions is not a secret, if you wish you are welcome to share any details of our sessions with whomever you like, they are your sessions and you are in charge of how much you choose to share about them.
I also attend regular professional supervision as this is a key part of good therapeutic practice, however, any cases discussed with my supervisor are completely anonymised with details hidden and changed to protect your confidentiality.
What will happen next?
3
Once you have made contact with me regarding your preferred location and presenting issue(s), I will respond to you within 2 working days to arrange a consultation phone call, this allows you to give context regarding your presenting issue(s) and ask any questions you might have about me or my practice. I will also send you a copy of my standard contract so you are able to review and ask questions about that too. During this phone call, if we both feel that I could be a good fit, we will arrange a time for your first therapy session. I will send an invoice for this first session which is payable up to 1 week after the session. After our first session I will encourage you to have a think and see how you feel about going ahead with weekly sessions, at which point I will need a signed copy of the contract.
How long is the therapeutic process?
4
All individual sessions last 1 therapeutic hour (50 minutes), but the length of time someone spends in therapy varies wildly. Some people feel that they only need a couple of months of sessions whilst some people attend regular therapy for years, it isn’t black and white at all and is up to you, however, I do practice with long term therapy in mind and feel that a set number of sessions or a set amount of time is often not a useful metric, instead, therapy should last for as long as the client needs it to and as long as they find it useful.