For
most people, the most difficult thing about therapy or coaching is scheduling/attending the initial consultation. Typically, this
is because there are so many unknowns: What am I supposed to do? What
am I supposed to say? Who will I be meeting with? How much will this
cost me? Will the therapist/coach be able to help me? Will I feel comfortable with the therapist/coach?
To help make our first appointment a little easier, below is a description of what you can probably expect when you arrive at either of my practice offices for the first time.
Choreography
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You'll arrive to my suite 10-15 minutes
ahead of your scheduled appointment and will find a quiet and
comfortable waiting room.
You'll locate the clipboard I've left for you on one of the chairs. On it you'll find a Welcome Note, a Client Information Summary, and a New Client Questionnaire for you to complete. The questionnaire will guide you to provide basic
identifying information, general background data, and includes space for
you to explain how you hope therapy or coaching will be helpful to you.
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Once you've completed the New Client Questionnaire
you'll locate the signal lights/directory on the waiting room wall, and will
turn on the light next to my name to let me know you are ready to meet
with me.
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At our agreed-upon start time, I'll come to the waiting room to greet you and I'll escort you to my office where we'll work our way through the following agenda items:
We'll talk about the purpose of our work together and what you want to achieve.
I'll tell you whether I think I'm the right 'mechanic' for the job and we'll decide whether or not we'll be engaging in a therapist/client or a coach/client relationship.
You'll ask me any questions you might have so you have the information you need to decide whether you want to hire me to help you.
We'll talk about how we'll work together and agree upon a fee for service.
Before I allow you to HIRE me, I'll teach you how to FIRE me.
We will probably spend about 1
hour together for this first meeting; however, you might want to allocate
90 minutes in your schedule to allow sufficient time to fill out the New Client Questionnaire and so you won't be distracted by time pressures during our first appointment.
That's it! Oh, by the way, you are under no obligation to make a decision about whether or not you want to start working with me during this first session. There are no strings attached. You can take all the time you need to make up your mind.
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