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What to Expect - Counseling
First Visit
All initial visits with our counselors will be 1 hour. Prior to your first visit you will be sent forms to complete, including an intake questionnaire, to give them some idea about what you are seeking in counseling. At your first visit, you will review this information together and will explore more deeply what brings you to this place at this time. After the first one or two visits, you and the counselor will formulate some ideas about moving forward. You may have very specific goals and objectives, or you may agree to continue exploring more to define your goals.
Follow Up Appointments
All follow-up appointments with our counselors will be 50-55 minutes. At these visits, you and they will both continue to explore the question “why this work at this time?” and engage in a healing partnership. This may include a variety of therapeutic modalities including but not limited to Polyvagal Theory, Interpersonal Neurobiology, mindfulness, somatic work as well as Emotion-Focused Therapy. Lauren is also skilled in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).
Diagnostics & Assessments
At Amenda Clinic, we consider ourselves to be diagnosis neutral. This means that we don’t think people can easily be fit into a neat diagnostic category. However, diagnoses are useful for insurance reimbursement and can also provide a framework to help you understand yourself a little better. It also may be helpful in finding resources like evidence-based treatments or community support. Thus, we do provide diagnostic assessments, and this may even be the reason you are here today. If diagnosis is required for any reason, we will partner with you to establish a description of your experience that feels true and reasonable to you.
Building a Support Plan
As a counseling client, you and your counselor will establish your support plan over the course of the first few visits. As new information is revealed and processed, this support plan will likely evolve to reflect both increasing depth of awareness and progress on goals. Be sure to let them know what kind of commitment you feel like you can reasonably make regarding time and money. In order to do the most effective counseling work, they rely on open, honest communication regarding any questions or feedback you may have over the course of this work together.