I offer 10-20 minute phone consultations to potential clients.
An initial, brief consultation is essentially a screening conversation. It’s an opportunity for both of us to explore whether my approach and your needs feel like the right fit. It is not a therapy session and is not designed to establish a therapeutic relationship. We do this before starting therapy, or deciding whether to start therapy, because therapy is most helpful when there is a sense of comfort, trust, and alignment in how we communicate and work together. Sometimes a consultation reveals that a different therapist or approach may be a better match (communication style, general feel, approach, whether you ‘get each other’, etc), and that is a normal and healthy part of the process of finding the right support.
Consultations or screenings are intended to help the therapist better understand what problems you hope to address, and what you hope to achieve with therapy. The therapist may provide brief, general information about their approach and answer questions about working together. Sometimes, we notice a good or poor fit right away. Sometimes, decisions may require time for pause and reflection. All of this is normal. If it seems that another therapist or approach may be a better fit, I will do my best to suggest other resources and wish you well on your journey.
Before booking a consult, I will ask about your availability, payment, and a general idea about what brings you to therapy. This is to take care of more logistical aspects of potentially working together.
Here are some questions to reflect upon for the consultation or screening:
What brings you to therapy or what is the nature of the problem?
What are you hoping will come from therapy right now?
Have you or your partner worked with a therapist before?
What made you reach out at this time?
For couples, are you on the same page in terms of what you want to work on in therapy and an approach you may need?
I will also talk about my approach and may address some of what I might be observing or hearing in session — understanding that I have limited information and that I don’t have a one-size-fits all approach.
Please know I understand that many people come to therapists already feeling stressed, distressed and anxious. This may be even more true in the case of couples and families where there are two or more people feeling this way — and perhaps toward each other as well. Emotions are often contagious, and couples are often not aligned about what they want and need. This can become obvious during a consult which can create challenges in the consult itself. I respect and admire your willingness to reach out, and ask that you also have a little patience for and openness to the process as the therapist tries to obtain and share information while navigating some of that intensity — under a tight timeline, without knowing you and without body language which can often help.
Please also know that I believe that therapy works best when people are open to curiosity about their own patterns and emotional experiences. My approach tends to be warm, compassionate and also straightforward, focusing on understanding deeper relational dynamics, emotional responses, and the ways past experiences can shape present relationships. Often these patterns show up even during the consult or screening and they may be uncomfortable. If we choose to work together, I will generally challenge you in that regard and am also open to feedback. If you’re primarily looking for quick advice, immediate solutions, or a therapist conversely who will just tell you exactly what to do, my style may not be the best fit. Therapy with me tends to be thoughtful, collaborative, challenging, and oriented toward longer-term emotional insight and meaningful, lasting change – with emotional and practical support along the way. Therapy is a process. It is not about guaranteed outcomes. However, please know I draw from evidence-based approaches to work together with you, to help bring about change.
* Using medical AI scribe for consults: Please know that I use Heidi AI Medical to help write notes after a consult and session to improve speed and efficiency. I review them afterwards for accuracy. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns with me using this scribe and you have the right to refuse.
* Following a consult: Because psychotherapy (and even the consult) is confidential, therapists are limited in how they can respond to public comments or reviews following a brief consult, or even ongoing psychotherapy. If someone has concerns about an interaction with me and my practice, I encourage reaching out directly so concerns can be addressed respectfully and privately whenever possible.
Therapy isn’t about perfect people giving perfect advice. It’s about two or more humans trying to understand something difficult together.