What to Expect at an Initial Consultation Session

By Kate Calway

Attending your initial psychological therapy appointment can feel daunting but our friendly Client Care Team and clinicians are always happy to help make this process easier and less anxiety-producing for you or your child. 

1. Once you have enquired about psychological services at our clinic and we have an available clinician suitable to you or your child’s needs, an initial consultation session booking will be made. You will receive notification of the session date, time and location and you may want to record this in your phone or calendar. 
   
   Please note: We have two clinics - Boorloo, the Noongar word for the land on which our North Perth clinic is located; and Walyalup, the Noongar location of our Fremantle clinic. 
   

2. You will then receive a Welcome Email (check your junk box if it doesn’t show up!) with a link to an intake form for you to complete prior to attending your initial consultation. This email will also provide information about your first visit to our clinic (or via Telehealth online if you are not attending in person). For those attending one of our clinics in person, you may wish to plan your journey and parking prior to your appointment. More details about location and parking are on our website. 

3. Most parents attend the Initial Consultation Session without their child so that they can speak freely about some of the difficulties that their child is experiencing. Some adolescents may wish to be involved in this initial session whereas others may not. 

4. Prior to your session, you can view our 'Meet the Team' page to read about the clinician you will be meeting and view their photo. 

5. You may come to your appointment on your own or with a support person. 

6. You'll likely arrive at the clinic and be greeted in the Welcome Room by one of our Client Care Team members. They will ask you to take a seat and you can do this in either the Welcome Room or the Parent Lounge while they let your psychologist know that you have arrived. If you have not already read and signed your service agreement, please do so now. We have magazines, books and fact sheets for you to browse while waiting (and toys if you have a little one with you).

7. Soon your clinician will come to greet you and they will walk with you to one of our comfortable therapy rooms. The initial consultation session is usually in the same room as ongoing therapy sessions. All of our rooms have names, such as the 'Sunshine Room' or the 'Apricot Room'. I wonder which room you will be in?!

As this is the first time meeting your clinician, you may be feeling a number of different emotions. It's completely normal to feel a little bit nervous when meeting your psychologist for the first time. We sometimes feel nervous too! If you are attending about your child or adolescent we will ask you lots of questions about their development, schooling, friendships, family, strengths, interests, and current difficulties. We always explain our confidentiality policy in this initial session meaning that what we talk about is private (with a few exceptions which we will explain). 

You may have a number of feelings after the initial appointment - perhaps relieved, hopeful, tired, or curious for what is to come. We are excited to begin working with you and we always look forward to seeing you or your child at the next session!

Your clinician will walk you back to the Welcome Room at the end of your session and the Client Care Team will assist with payment and if ongoing sessions are required, they will ensure your next session is booked in. Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Top Tips when bringing your young person into the clinic for their first therapy session:

• Have your child view their clinician’s information on our website to help in reducing anticipatory anxiety. You are also welcome to take photos of the therapy room to show your child. Some children find it helpful to bring in some of their favourite items or sensory tools into the clinic (i.e., toys, fidgets, pet dog!). Just check with our Client Care Team prior to your child’s first session if you are hoping to bring a pet. 

• Many of our clients may feel nervous about attending the clinic for the first time. Our Client Care Team can send you a walkthrough video to show your child. 

• To ease 'normal nerves' we may play some games or speak about interests. We love hearing about interests and hobbies and it’s such a wonderful way to assist our clients with feeling safe and comfortable in the therapy room. We have lots of card games, board games, fidgets, arts and crafts, toys, books… many fun activities to keep us entertained. 

• The point of this first appointment is to introduce ourselves and to get to know each other a little bit better - building rapport will be the only focus for us in this first therapy session.

• Some children are not too anxious about attending therapy sessions and if this is your child, you can let them know that we may ask some questions about people in their life such as family or friends, school teachers, interests, and anything that may be worrying them that they may want to talk with us about in the future. For our highly anxious or PDA clients we will leave these questions for now and focus on building safety through play and connection. 

• Some children like to have their parents or caregiver in the first therapy session with them and others are happy to come in on their own. We are flexible clinicians and will check with parents during the initial consultation session about which option (or a bit of both) may suit their child. 

• Meeting a new psychologist is a big first step in you or your child's mental health journey, and you may want to do something nice afterwards (whatever that may be). 

Overall, we aim to provide a caring and safe space for all of our clients and their families. We are always open to feedback and ways to improve our services. We look forward to working with you / your child at The Kidd Clinic.