Note 01
Arriving at a first session
You can be early, late-anxious, or without a plan.
People often apologise in the first five minutes — for rambling, for crying, for not knowing where to start. None of that needs an apology. The session is not a presentation.
If it helps, you can bring a note on your phone. You can also ignore it. I will ask a little about what made you write, and about how you are arriving today, which is sometimes different from the reason you booked.
You do not have to tell your whole history. A single scene is often enough to begin: a conversation that stuck, a morning that felt flat, the moment you decided to look for a counsellor.
Note 02
What confidentiality does, and does not, mean
Privacy is the frame. It is not a magic seal.
What you say is not for me to repeat to your partner, your employer, or a curious friend. Notes are brief, factual, and stored so that I can remember the thread of the work — not so that a file can stand in for you.
There are limits, and they should be said in ordinary language. If I thought you were at serious risk, or that a child or another adult was, I would need to involve someone who can help. I would aim to talk with you first, unless doing so increased the risk.
Supervision is part of ethical practice. I discuss the work with a supervisor, without your name, so that I am not holding it entirely alone. That is a protection for you, not a leak.
Note 03
On pacing, and the wish to be finished
Wanting it sorted by next week is information, not a failure.
Many people come hoping for a clean result. A decision made, a mood lifted, a relationship repaired on a timetable. Sometimes counselling helps those things happen. Often the first movement is slower: naming what has been carried at speed.
If you notice yourself performing insight, we can say so. Rushing is usually intelligent. It once kept something manageable. We do not have to shame it in order to loosen it.
Note 04
A note for people who look after everyone else
Being capable is not the same as being fine.
If you are the one who remembers birthdays, holds the meeting, and stays calm in other people’s weather, counselling can feel oddly exposing. There is no one here to organise.
We can go carefully with that. You will not be asked to collapse on cue. You might, over time, notice the cost of being endlessly reliable — and whether any of that cost is still necessary.
