5 Tips For Your First Sessions As A Psychotherapist
One of the most difficult moments in the professional career of psychotherapists, whether in the clinical or healthcare field, is carrying out the EPS (Supervised Professional Practice).
With this in mind, you might be interested in these little ones tips for your first session as a psychotherapist Helps to relieve the nerves of the first sessions with your patients or clients.
Follow these guidelines to get through this process as productively as possible.
1. Nerves are not your enemy
Every first step is scary, and The first meeting with a patient or client calls into question everything you have learned during the 4 or 5 years of the degree. It’s okay, nerves are natural and will be present to a greater or lesser degree regardless of the passage of time and all the experience you accumulate. It is normal, since you do not know what type of individual will be sitting in front of you and what their life history is.
You must remember that, despite your nerves, if you are offering your help on a professional level it is for a reason: you have gotten there because your skills have made it possible.
2. Have all the necessary paperwork on hand
This is an extremely important part, since having all the paperwork that helps you collect the patient’s information It is key to being able to provide the appropriate service This includes:
Commitment sheet
Having a commitment sheet is relevant within professional practice, especially if you are in your supervised professional practice (EPS), since you do not yet have official titles and active membership. This commitment will be the guarantee in which The patient or client gives consent to begin the data collection stage (anamnesis), evaluation and of course treatment.
Important information: you must have a sheet for adults and one for children and adolescents that parents must sign.
Clinical records
This document is like the “letter of introduction” of your patient/client, it compiles: general data, reason for consultation, date of start of therapy and the end date, if you feel the need you can include: when the problem started, if there is any stimulus or stressor that is aggravating the situation or symptoms.
Medical records
A type of document key to making a good diagnosis and along with it, a good treatment. This document collects all the patient/client’s life information, which includes:
Gathering all the information mentioned above takes time. As advice, try not to rush in collecting this data, sometimes patients/clients in their first session cry half of it and complain for the rest, therefore you should take notes of everything you can take “in the air” If necessary, ask direct questions.
mental exam
This document is also key to a good diagnosis. In it you will write down or cross out everything related to the patient’s or client’s signs, for example: his appearance (he looks unkempt, unkempt, has scars), his perception (he has hallucinations, illusions, etc.), his thoughts (he has delusions, ideas of reference, flight of ideas, etc.). You must have it on hand from the moment you see him arrive at the office or you see him in the waiting room
Evolution Sheets
If you want to be a good therapist, You must keep a record of all the progress of your patients or clients, from the first session to the last. In the progress sheets you will write down the changes that occur over the course of the sessions, for example: “SESSION # 7: Juanita has a reduction in depressive symptoms, she has done her homework at home and enjoys activities with her family more. her”.
Appointment control
For reasons of order and good management of your patients, you can keep track of appointments physically or digitally (for example, with an App). This way you will know which appointments were missed and which appointments were not, if they have done their pending homework, if you should cancel them…
This It will be essential if you are a practitioner Even so, I also suggest it to all professionals, you keep notes of everything you do in the sessions with each patient/client, it could be key to discovering if the treatment is being effective or if perhaps you have made a mistake in carrying out some technique.
Therapeutic Plan
Something that makes the patient feel very safe is having everything ready, notice that you are waiting for them with a whole assortment of activities which they will do in the short 45 or 60 minutes of the session. Not only will this give a good image of you, but the patient will also have very significant progress, especially if they are coming to you for brief therapy.
Data bank
This is at the discretion of the practitioner or professional. Keep a bank with all the data of the clients you have served during the year It will help you know how you have done and if it is necessary to improve your marketing plan
Extras: teacher interviews and reference sheets
Sometimes children referred by the school come to the consultation. For your personal control,** requesting that the teacher provide information** is very useful or anyone who is making the referral of the patient/client to your office.
3. The evaluation and the first setbacks
Something key and very supportive in the therapy processes is without a doubt the evaluation. It is important that you know and put together your own “standard” sets of psychological tests It is not necessary that you be a “machine” and know the instructions for all the tests by heart and to the letter. For this reason, I suggest that you choose 2 to 4 basic tests
Choose those psychological tests that you master and that can provide auxiliary information for the diagnosis of your patient. In some cases, personality tests are also very useful, so I invite you to investigate further which tests best suit the population you will serve.
4. Ethics
As professionals or future professionals, We must follow the rules proposed by our code of ethics
The people who come to the consultation are just that… people, who are requesting not only help but a professional service. For this reason, it is good to take care of some details such as clothing, fill out the corresponding paperwork mentioned above, evaluate and deliver results and to finalize the diagnosis.
It is also important to take into account the therapeutic approach you will use: the one based on the most scientific evidence is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, although there are different interventions proposed for each of the psychological problems.
5. Empathy
I believe that this is the key for the client to have significant progress. Establishing a good therapeutic relationship, always within a framework of reference, is essential. The problem is that at the beginning there is a severe emotional burden, since patients come to vent and resolve their conflicts, and many times this emotional burden begins to affect our private life. It is necessary that the therapeutic relationship be a combination of empathy and professionalism
Never forget…
Finally, always remember that it is not only important to use techniques.
In my experience, I have met practitioners and professionals who consider techniques as the center of therapy. I must admit that it is partly true that they are very important, but do not forget that you are dealing with a person. Always keep empathy and compassion within the framework of therapy.
