Counselling assessment

[beth12345]

I am on a waiting list for counselling and have a counselling assessment coming up soon. Has anyone else had one of these and what happens at them?
Thanks

[Millie2013]

Assessments normally last an hour, sometimes a bit longer and the counsellor will take a history of your presenting issues and the impact that they have on you to try to get an idea of your suitability for counselling and how committed you are. A good counsellor will also tell you a little bit about the way that they work, because it is a two way process and you both need to be clear about the commitment to working together. You may get asked to sign a contract (or verbally agree to one) covering things such as frequency of sessions/duration of therapy/missed sessions, etc and the counsellor is likely to talk about confidentiality and risk and whether you have had any thoughts about harming yourself and may outline his/her means of dealing with any perceived risk (should you make a disclosure in a session re risk to yourself and others. They may also discuss therapeutic boundaries (contact between sessions, etc)

Just be as honest as possible and if you have any questions about the therapy, or don't understand something, it's fine to ask :)

Good luck!