What to Expect When You Arrive
At Journey Counseling we know it takes courage to reach out for help. When you arrive at our office we want you to feel comfortable. Please help yourself to coffee, tea, or hot chocolate from the coffee bar or open the fridge for a cold drink while you wait for your therapist. There will be a clip board with your first name and appointment time that has paperwork for you to complete and sign to give to your counselor. Please have your insurance card and driver’s license available for us to make a copy. We recommend that you take advantage of our art cart and find a color page to complete, work a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, or word search or browse through a magazine while you wait. Your therapist will be with you shortly.
What to Expect in the Counselor’s Office
You will find the professionals at Journey Counseling compassionate and ready to listen without judgment. Each of our counselors has decorated their own office to create a peaceful and comfortable environment. Expect to start your first visit with a brief “therapy spiel” regarding professional disclosure, confidentiality, and ethics. We believe you will sense a rapport with your therapist within the hour that will give you assurance to confide in them. Typically, a person leaves their first session with a renewed sense of hope, goals for therapy and tools to begin working on change. With consistency, you should expect to see a decrease in the frequency and intensity of symptoms. However, you should also know that many people experience a “slump” after the third or fourth session when the progress they’ve seen seems to slow down or stop. This is a normal part of the therapeutic course and by processing this with the counselor and not giving up, you can expect to meet your goals.