Counselling Sessions
“You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
C. S. Lewis
First Contact with Prevail
Your first contact Prevailcan be a brief video or phone call, text, message or email. It is important to clarify a day and time for the first session and if it will be video, phone or in person.
If there are questions you want to ask or information you want to pass on we can discuss these before the session.
I will send an email of information about the sessions.
The First Session
The first session is for the client to become comfortable with the counsellor and the counsellor to gain an understanding of the client’s needs.
There is very brief admin work to be done in the first session. The main part of this is the signing of the contract which outlines the confidentiality and cancellation polcies.
I use an assessment form to gather information on your needs. It is not necessary to complete the assessment in the first session. It is important the client satisfys the need to offload any overbearing concerns in the first session.
General Session Structure
Each session begins with a review of the client’s well being since the last session. Unless otherwise agreed, all sessions are 60 minutes long. Sessions consist of you exploring your issues related to the concerns you want to talk about. The sessions finish with a feedback on how the session has helped you. Suggestions maybe made for client work in between the sessions. There is regular review of the effectiveness of the counselling work done.
Finishing Counselling
You can finish your counselling at any stage. You are encouraged though to inform me of your decision before your last session. This allows for safe closure of emotional issues and possible referral to other agencies.
Opening Times
It is good to keep to the same time for the sessions but I can not guarantee that I will be able to do this.
This is my general availability Monday to Saturday.
Monday: 7am to last session finishing at 9pm, in Clondalkin
Tuesday: 7am to last session finishing at 9pm, in Clondalkin
Wednesday: 4pm to last session finishing at 6:30pm in Clondalkin
Thursday: 8:15am to the last session finishing at 8:30pm in Bray
Friday: 7am to last session finishing at 6:30pm in Clondalkin
Saturday: 9:30am to the last session finishing at 1pm in Clondalkin
Number of Sessions
The number of sessions a client does is a very individual decision. Clients may chose to do a preset amount of sessions. Generally clients decide when they feel the work has come to its natural end, though sometimes that can be a mutal decision.
If you want to do just 1 session that is ok. Please inform me of this and we can do a suitable session for you. The full fee applies in such a situation.
Some clients may desire to have a long term counselling arrangement of an indefinite duration.
Frequency of Sessions
It is best to have the first four or so sessions weekly. Then sessions can be more spaced out. Once a session goes beyond fortnightly bookings I can not gaurantee a slot. Generally a booking can be made but I can not keep a slot for a client doing a session every three weeks or monthly.
Video/Phone Sessions
You may prefer your counseling provided over video or phone, even if you usually have them in person. If you chose video/phone sessions you need to maintain your own confidentiality. It is also important to create your own therapeutic space that you are comfortable in. Try to maintain this safe space for yourself for a time after your session so that you can process properly what happened for you in the session. The same fee structure exists for video/phone sessions as for in person sessions.
Confidentiality
Confidentiality enables trust in the therapeutic process and so is a key concern. How Prevail maintains confientiality is discussed in the first session.
Reports
Any reports you request to verify on your counselling will be considered on a case by case basis. Generally recipts re payment for each attendance are suficent.