In Person and Online Therapy in Ventura

LAYING THE GROUNDWORK

What to Expect In the First Therapy Session

Getting Started With Treatment

The first appointment, also called the ‘intake session’ or ‘Bio-psycho-social Assessment’ is about an hour and will take place in person at my office in Ventura or via secure Zoom anywhere in California.

Our first meeting is part of a diagnostic evaluation process that helps create the foundation for beginning therapy. The diagnostic evaluation may require several sessions and our active therapy work follows this stage.

Opening Up In Therapy

The first session is a chance to share about your obsessive-compulsive symptoms and other mental health challenges, your history with therapy, your strengths, relationships, and goals for recovery. This may feel vulnerable if you are sharing sensitive or painful information. I will hold your story with respect and care.

Creating the Therapy Frame

If you completed any formal measures or a written intake interview prior to the first appointment, we will discuss the results in our meeting. We will also discuss aspects of how we will work together that create a safe therapeutic frame—including practice policies, scheduling and payment logistics, communication methods, confidentiality, and more. I will answer any questions you may have about how I approach OCD, specific phobias, stress, and anxiety treatment.

Our Working Alliance

Research states our fit, or working relationship, plays a major role in your recovery. When we have a shared understanding of the issue (diagnosis or case conceptualization), an agreement on the methods to treat the issue (type of therapy), and a working alliance to tackle the issue (therapeutic relationship), we are ready to begin treatment and starting off with a high likelihood we will do effective work. If any of these ingredients are absent our work is unlikely to be productive. Goodness of fit and building a strong foundation at the beginning of treatment is essential.

Eager to Dive Into Exposure-Based Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy?

If you have suffered for a long time before receiving an accurate diagnosis or waited forever to gain access to appropriate treatment, it’s totally understandable if you are eager to start healing and jump into exposure therapy. Exposure-based CBT is energizing because it helps you begin to rewrite your narrative—one in which you are capable and free.

I promise we will begin the active phase of ERP as soon as possible, but we do need to lay the groundwork for success with assessment and treatment planning first! Approaching ERP with this type of intention will help set you up for the best chance at reaching your therapy goals.