What to Expect from Your First Christian Counseling Session in Durham, NC

You know you want to work with a Christian Therapist, and you’ve found a couple that you want to check out. As you narrow in on deciding who is the best fit for you, you’re beginning to wonder what therapy with a Christian Counselor in Durham, NC will even be like. Is working with a Black, Christian therapist right for you? You’ve found a ton of Black Therapists in Durham and they all seem cool, but you’ve got questions - which is to be expected!

As with the rest of this blog series, I am here to help answer some common questions about How to Find a Therapist in Durham, NC. Hopefully this answers some of your questions about what to expect from Christian Counseling with your Black, Therapist for Moms in Durham, NC.

What happens after I schedule?

Once you have had your 15-minute consultation and you decide to book your weekly therapy sessions with me, I will provide you with paperwork and consent documents to get you oriented to therapy. This allows you to review my policies and share some information about your history and what’s bringing you to therapy. I will review your intake paperwork ahead of our first session and we will discuss it further when we meet.

What will happen in my first session?

The first session is always a little bit different. We will take time to get acquainted as you settle into the teletherapy space. I do a thorough assessment of your history and what’s bringing you to therapy. Sometimes this means I am talking more than I typically would but that’s just because there are several things to get you oriented to and an assessment to conduct to make sure you are safe and that my services are still the best fit for you. We discuss goals and we begin to get a sense of how we will work together. The major thing I want people to know is that we do not have to talk about all the things in one session. I invite you to lay your burdens down, but just know that there’s time to get it all out as we work together in future sessions.

How long will it take to start feeling different?

That depends on the nature of what is bringing you to therapy. I do believe that we have to “put out the fire before we start trying to rewire the house.” This means that if something is pressing or crisis-related that we work on getting you stabilized first. You are not alone in the journey and you don’t have to have all the answers. I can’t make any promises about when you will start to feel better, but I can tell you that I will be there with you as we carve out a way forward toward your goals. I will not deliberately try to dig deep when you are already raw. I use a trauma-informed lens to provide skills and education to further understand your experience and aid you with coping before we start to unpack all the hard things.

Do I have to do anything between sessions?

That’s up to you, but know that half the work you do in therapy is what happens between sessions. You aren’t seeking Christian Counseling just to have someone telling you what to do. Think about it like this, “faith without works is dead” (James 2). You can show up to teletherapy thinking all "I have to do is show up on screen and that’s it," but if you want to make the most out of partnering with God through Christian Counseling in Durham, NC then you need to do your part of the work too. How you engage the work is up to you(see the next question for more on this).

Will there be homework?

Sometimes, but I like to think of it as “growth work”....you are not in school and I’m not going to cancel you if you don’t complete the growth work we collaborated on designing in session. Sometimes growth work looks like journaling, reflecting, having a hard conversation with someone in your life, or working on a skill we have been practicing in session. If you are specifically working with me for Christian Counseling it might look like spiritual work as well - whether that’s leaving with a prayer prompt, resources for engaging a new spiritual discipline, or reflecting on how your beliefs are impacting your mental and emotional well-being. There’s a variety of different ways to practice what you have been learning in session. My style is very collaborative so when there is growth work to be done, we will come up with it together and I will always ask you if you feel it’s something doable for you. Most clients find themselves wanting to have growth work between sessions rather than dreading it. 

What if we work together for a couple of sessions and I’m not feeling it?

This is a great question. I always invite feedback about my practice and I will often check in to see what changes need to be made and how to improve your experience. If of course you feel like we are not a good fit, I want to know that and I want to assist you with finding someone who is a good fit for your therapy in Durham, NC. Therapy relationships evolve and I am always going to do the work to develop our rapport. I do advise that you give it a couple of sessions before deciding it’s not a good fit, and don’t keep it to yourself. Let me or whoever you are working with know “hey something hasn’t been feeling right, I don’t know what it is exactly but I’ve been wondering if this is still a good fit.” Your therapist should be equipped to talk to you about this. For me, I will never take it personally if there is something that needs to be adjusted. I want you to have the therapy relationship that’s best for you and I recognize that it may not be with me. I can support you through this challenge if it comes up. If you are looking for another Black Therapist in Durham, NC, I can provide you with referrals. If you are seeking Christian Counseling in Durham, NC, I got you too!

I hope this helps you find the right therapist in Durham, NC. If you want to work with a Black, Christian Therapist specializing in working with moms and parents on their mental health and wellness goals then feel free to give me a call at 919.213.9894. You can also complete the Contact Me form if that’s more your style. I’d be delighted to get you connected with Christian Counseling in Durham, NC or whatever service is the best fit for you. You can schedule your 15-minute FREE consultation right now. If I am not a great fit for you, I will provide you with the names of a few other therapists that I think could be a fit. 

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