What to Expect in Your First CBT Therapy Session
After many years of working with children and young people most ask and wonder what therapy might look like and what happens in the 1st session and beyond.
When starting CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), the first session is important for getting to know each other.
Typically, I spend time with the young person first, and then with their parent or carer. This helps me understand the issues and goals better.
Here are some of the questions I might ask during our first meeting:
- What are the main difficulties or problems you’re facing?
- How long have these issues been happening?
- Can you tell me about your family relationships?
- How is school going for you?
- Do you have close friends?
- How well are you sleeping?
- How is your mood most of the time?
- Have you ever felt like hurting yourself?
- What goals would you like to achieve?
Sometimes, there will be questionnaires to fill out to help us understand things better.
Continuing Your CBT Journey with Follow up Sessions
After the first session, our follow-up sessions are all about making progress and checking in. Here’s what you can expect:
- Check-In: We’ll start by talking about how things have been since our last meeting.
- Planning: Together, we’ll decide what we want to focus on in the current session.
- Review: We’ll go over any tasks or activities that were given between sessions.
- Techniques and strategies: These will be what you use to help overcome and improve your emotional mental health.
- Tasks: This might be given to you to practice in-between session to embed the work we are doing
Each session is a step towards understanding and overcoming challenges, and I’m here to support you throughout the process.
