I believe that counseling or therapy can have benefits and risks. You may find that therapy provides immediate relief within a short amount of time, or that the work is difficult, sometimes painful, and ongoing over a significant amount of time. These experiences are normal and it is my intention to provide you with the best opportunity for your individual growth and healing. Our first few sessions may be evaluative in nature and may include contact with referral sources, physicians, other therapists, or family members (only with your written permission). Once my initial evaluation is complete, we will mutually discuss treatment goals, methods, and anticipated length of treatment. You always have the right to request a change in treatment or to refuse treatment. It is important that what we do together meets your needs. Your participation in therapy is fully voluntary.
It is important to remember that we take this journey together. Although you are responsible for setting your goals and working toward change outside of the therapy hour as well as during it, my role is to educate and support you during this period of change. In supporting your perception of reality, present and past, I will not attempt to determine in a legal sense whether the events you describe happened exactly as you remember them. I see you as the one who sets the course for your own life and as the responsible for the decisions and life changes that you make. I may, at various times, make suggestions and give advice, but of course, you are in control of what choices you make and how you implement them.