What to expect from our sessions together
Embarking on a therapeutic journey is a courageous step toward personal growth and self-discovery. While therapy has become more widely known and accessible, it can still feel unfamiliar, intimidating, or even scary. Whether you’re experienced with therapy or preparing for your very first session, it’s natural to feel a mix of emotions - excitement, curiosity, and perhaps a touch of anxiety or uncertainty.
Questions often arise: Will I connect with this (new) therapist? Can I trust them enough to openly share my experience? Will they judge me? Will they want me to revisit moments from my past that I may not remember - or not want to talk about? How much should I share? Where should I even begin?
These feelings and questions are entirely normal. To help demystify the process, here’s a glimpse of what you can expect when we work together.
1. The discovery call
Our journey begins with a free 15-minute discovery call. This is an opportunity to get to know each other, briefly discuss what you’d like to get from therapy, and see whether the support I can offer aligns with your needs.
If it feels like a good fit, we can schedule between one and five initial sessions. This allows us both to experience what it’s like to work together before deciding on a longer-term process. It also ensures that the approach, pace, and focus truly support what you’re looking for.
Many new clients wonder how to prepare for these first sessions. My advice is simple: just come as you are. Reflecting in advance on what you most want for yourself can help, but it’s not necessary. The heart often finds its own way of making its deepest longings known, and we can also begin from whatever arises in the moment.
2. Our first sessions together (1-5)
In our first session, we clarify what you most want for yourself - even if it may not feel possible or realistic right now. This becomes the ‘red thread’ that guides our exploration and helps us stay connected to what matters most to you.
Once your intention is clear and we’ve agreed on what we can (and cannot) do together, we explore what might be getting in the way of experiencing more of what you long for. This can involve slowing down, deconstructing recent experiences, and bringing curiosity to thoughts, feelings, bodily reactions, and patterns you may notice.
A note on working with the past
Many people worry that therapy may not be effective if they cannot recall past experiences. In newer approaches, such as NARM (NeuroAffective Relational Model®), healing does not rely on reliving or recounting past events; doing so can sometimes retraumatize rather than support growth.
Instead, in NARM we focus on the present moment. Shifts begin as we bring curiosity to how we relate to ourselves and others here and now. What is relevant from the past often emerges spontaneously. Rather than “digging” into old stories, we explore how we adapted to them and how those adaptations influence life today.
If these initial sessions feel supportive and we find that we can work effectively together, we can then establish a recurring meeting schedule for ongoing sessions.
3. On-going sessions
As we move beyond the first sessions, the work continues and deepens. The relational foundation we’ve built allows us to explore more fully what may be standing in the way of you experiencing what you most long for. Your desires may become clearer, more refined, or shift and broaden as we go along, and our sessions adapt to support that evolving process.
My work is relational and non-solution-oriented. I don’t offer advice, ready-made solutions, or techniques, because I trust that each person carries the wisdom within themselves to know what is right for them. I see my role as walking alongside you, helping to explore the obstacles that may be hindering access to your inner guidance - so you can discover the solutions that truly work for you.
No two therapy sessions are alike, but if you’re curious, here are some of the things you might expect:
Slowing down the narratives of events and experiences to notice subtler dynamics that are often overlooked in the rush of everyday life.
Exploring how you relate to these experiences, how they affect you and the way you feel towards yourself and the others;
Noticing how adaptations to developmental trauma may show up in the present moment between us;
Bringing curiosity to what arises moment by moment, at any level of experience - cognitive, emotional, somatic, physiological, or energetic.
Exploring patterns and increasing awareness of how you use your agency, strengths, and capacities.
Noticing psycho-biological shifts toward a deeper connection with yourself and allowing space to feel them at a bodily level, supporting deeper integration and embodiment.
Ultimately, this work supports loosening the ways we may continue creating suffering for ourselves - through disconnection from self, self-criticism, self-judgement and self-rejection - and opens the path toward more freedom, acceptance, and agency in life.
4. Our closure session
Every therapeutic journey has its own rhythm and duration. When it feels time to close, we dedicate space to this transition. The closure session allows us to:
Revisit your initial intentions and reflect on the changes and progress made.
Discuss what worked well and what could have been different.
Prepare for the transition out of therapy in a way that feels intentional and empowering.
I encourage clients to let me know at least one session in advance, so we can set aside time for closure. This helps ensure you leave therapy with a sense of completion and integration.
Many clients choose to close the process at some point and return years later when they feel called to continue. This is always an option.
Instead of a closing note
As we embark on this journey of self-discovery together, my hope is to create together a space where it feels safe enough to bring curiosity to parts of yourself you may never have dared to explore alone - parts you might have hidden, rejected, or even felt ashamed of. This path may not always feel easy, and I cannot promise you’ll love every step. Yet I deeply believe there is nothing more grounding and transformative than reclaiming the parts of ourselves we’ve exiled into the dark (and yes, we all have them).
I don’t believe in quick fixes or shortcuts, nor can I make the hard stuff disappear. What I do believe in is the power of being together as we navigate life’s challenges - because something shifts when we don’t have to face them alone. What I can offer is my presence in the process: to be curious about your experience, to serve as a neutral mirror, and to explore with you what may be standing in the way of your connection to your inner wisdom, autonomy, and natural impulses toward connection, joy, and aliveness.
If you feel drawn to this work - or simply have questions- let’s connect. You’re welcome to book a free, 15-minute discovery call , or send me an email if none of the available times work for you.
