Are you wondering what it is like to start therapy?
Introduction:
Hello and nice to meet you! I’m Camille with Camille A. Saunders Therapy Services and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Associate seeing clients over telehealth in Washington state. I know it’s a challenging time to find mental health care right now and you might be wondering what it is like to work with me. I’d love to walk you through my process from when you initially reach out to me to what working together for months or years looks like.
Let’s say you are looking for a therapist right now. You’ve been googling and emailing and calling all over and many therapists are full or aren’t a good fit for you right now. But then you happen upon my website or a listing about me somewhere on the internet and you do it, you reach out. Congratulations! This is one of the hardest parts and you’ve done it.
Okay, so you’ve left me a voicemail asking if I’m open to taking new clients. The first thing I like to do is respond to you within 24 hours of when you’ve reached out and I encourage you to schedule a phone call or time to meet for a free 20 minute consult over video to see if we're a good fit to work together. Once we’ve set up a time to meet for the consultation I send you an email link as to where to meet over video for our appointment. When I send you the link to your consultation I also go ahead and send along all my paperwork required to get started with me as a client so that you can look that over if you’d like and bring any questions to me during our free consult together.
Free 20 Minute Consult:
In our consultation time I am happy to answer any questions you might have which can range from my therapy style, fees for sessions, availability, to the way I hold sessions, and what you can expect week to week. Once you have gotten all your questions answered and if you are ready to move forward in working with me, then we schedule a 90 minute intake session. Once the session is scheduled I send you all my required paperwork to fill out if I haven’t already and I expect that you have filled it out before our appointment.
First Session:
In the first session or what I call the intake session I review my paperwork and expectations with you and we go over the written questionnaire that you submitted. I might ask you to elaborate on any sections I have questions about as we go through it. At the end of the intake session we schedule the next couple of sessions out and usually we meet weekly for 1 hour to start.
Second Session and beyond:
In the second session I ask about your goals for therapy and we fill out a treatment plan together as we imagine what you'd like to accomplish over the first 90 days of working together.
After that we usually meet weekly and work towards those goals for therapy. That might look like learning mindfulness techniques, doing exercises, practicing communication techniques with your partner in between sessions, or discussing your family of origin which is what your family life was like growing up. Every 90 days or three months we re-evaluate the goals for therapy and update them as needed.
It is also perfectly normal for you to continue working on the same goal from the beginning. The 90 day marker is helpful so that I can make sure that you are getting the most out of therapy and that we are working towards your goals during our time together. Therapy is hard work and can feel bring up uncomfortable memories, emotions, and challenges in our relationships with others. This 90 day marker also gives me a chance to check in with how therapy has been feeling for you, what it has been bringing up, and what growth or changes you might be making in your life.
How do you know when you’re done with therapy?
This can look different for every client I work with. Some clients I have worked with weekly, then we’ve moved to biweekly, then monthly, and then we eventually pause or stop when you are feeling capable of maintaining the growth and changes that you wanted on you own. Some clients work with me weekly for a while and then they might feel like they got what they needed and we stop. Any client I’ve had is able to stop therapy and reach back out if they would like to continue therapy again or have a different struggle or challenge they would like to work on and get support around.
There are also other situations that may arise like you may come to a point where I have done what I can for you as a client and you may need a different type of therapy or approach where you would be better suited to continue with a different therapist. If that does arise I am more than willing to work to give you a personalized list of referrals for other therapists that I think would be a good fit.
I love working with all my clients but I am also aware that I am not the best fit for every therapy client out there. I want you to know that I will also support you in finding another therapist if it does come to that. It is part of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Code of Ethics that therapists like me refer clients to other therapists when the client desires that. I see it as unethical if I or other therapists refuse to do that when they stop working with you. Here is the link to report a therapist in Washington state if you have not been treated well and it does come to that, https://doh.wa.gov/licenses-permits-and-certificates/complaint-and-disciplinary-process/health-professions-complaint-process.
I hope this has been a helpful and insightful look into my process of working with clients. If you have any questions you can reach out to me using the contact form below, or you can email me at camilleastherapy@gmail.com, or give me a call at 253-339-6871.
I would love to chat with you!