What is Individual Therapy?

Individual therapy, sometimes called psychotherapy or counseling, is a process through which clients work one-on-one with a trained therapist—in a safe, caring, and confidential environment—to explore their feelings, beliefs, or behaviors, work through challenging or influential memories, identify aspects of their lives that they would like to change, better understand themselves and others, set personal goals, and work toward desired change.

People seek therapy for a wide variety of reasons, from coping with major life challenges or childhood trauma, to dealing with depression or anxiety, to simply desiring personal growth and greater self-knowledge. A client and therapist may work together for as few as five or six sessions or as long as several years, depending on the client’s unique needs and personal goals for therapy.

How do I get started?

Your first step is to call me to schedule your initial appointment.  You will be asked to provide some initial information over the telephone to help me to evaluate if counseling services is your best treatment option.  You may then be scheduled for an initial evaluation session which provides an opportunity for you to build rapport with the me and for you or your child to provide me with some background about yourself and the reasons you are seeking counseling.  In addition, I will be able to answer your questions regarding services, fees, confidentiality and what to expect in therapy.

I am interested in developing a collaborative relationship with you in which we decide together what kind of treatment would be best for you. I make decisions on what I believe will be best for the client.

At the end of that first session, if we decide that it is in your best interest to move forward working with me, you will decide on a mutually-agreeable time slot for your therapy sessions (typically, the we will meet once a week, and each session will last approximately 50 minutes). At your second appointment, you will begin working with me to set goals for your therapy experience and then begin working together toward achieving them.

Treatment Approach