Your first visit, and possibly the second visit, will involve an evaluation, which is an opportunity to gain an understanding of your concerns, symptoms and desired areas for improvement. Following the evaluation, you will have the opportunity to collaboratively develop a treatment plan with your therapist. From that point, your psychotherapy sessions will mainly consist of having open discussions on the following topics: 1) Progress pertaining to your personal growth and treatment goals; 2) Identifying and changing your negative thoughts to positive/realistic thoughts, which in turn changes your feelings and behaviors and 3) Increasing and improving your coping skills in order to manage your daily concerns.

The length of treatment and the frequency of therapy sessions depends on the individual's number of concerns, severity of symptoms, treatment goals and their effort put forth in and out of session. Initially, clients often begin with weekly 45 minute sessions in order to build a rapport and to increase their knowledge of various skills. Once these goals are completed, then the client usually schedules more time in between appointments, such as biweekly or every 3 weeks, depending on their treatment progress. At this time, the treatment goals are for the client to be able to maintain their progress and to continue their progress on their own, without the therapist. Once this is accomplished, then the client typically stops attending therapy. The process of ending therapy, termination, can be a very valuable part of your treatment. Terminating therapy should not be done casually, although the therapist or client may decide to end it if either believes it is in the client's best interest. If you wish to stop or to take a break from therapy at any time, please consult with your therapist and discuss the possibility of having at least one additional session to review your treatment progress and to allow for closure.