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What happens when I contact or book in with you

Writer's picture:  Heidi Ashley Heidi Ashley

Contact me for therapy via email

Pre-therapy


Your first step is to email me. We’ll then arrange to speak by phone over the next few days. The call lasts 20 minutes and I don’t charge for it.

 

I’ll ask you to share a bit about your problem and how you’ve been coping with it. I’ll think with you about whether us working together would be the best option for you just now. I’ll always be open, honest, and clear with you.  My goal is for you to find the call helpful and supportive.

 

You don’t need to commit to booking in with me after our call. You probably felt quite nervous! I encourage you to take time to reflect on our chat and how it felt for you.

If you do email again asking to work with me, I’ll send you my working relationship document. It tells you how I go about things (e.g. cancellations) and what therapy expects of you: it’s the agreement between us.

 

Unless you also live in Glasgow, we’ll probably meet online. I’ll share a link that you simply click on each week: easy!

 

If you want to meet in person in Glasgow, I’ll share the venue with you.

 

I’ll invoice you at the end of each session and you can pay me by bank transfer. My fee is £90. My bank details are on the invoice.


Assessment sessions

 

The first meetings, after contact and before starting therapy, are assessment sessions. I’ll ask you to share the story of your life. I’ll carefully support you by asking thoughtful questions, listening closely and guiding you. I won’t ask you to share upsetting or traumatic topics if you don’t want to.

 

The purpose of assessment is to;

 

● build a deep understanding of your history and life experiences so I can understand - even feel - how your world has worked for you

● find out what you want to get from therapy (your goals)

● identify problem patterns in your life

● show you how these patterns are linked to your schemas and modes

● create a therapy plan  

● start to build a strong, warm therapy bond with you


Therapy sessions: change work

 

The next phase is therapy itself, where we work to process emotion, heal schemas and address the different modes. These sessions focus on the childhood origins of your here-and-now problems. I’ll help you break out of old patterns that keep you in a stuck place and establish new, healthier patterns that will help you get your needs met.

 

I’ll keep checking with you that what we are doing together feels useful to you. I’ll also ask about anything you don’t feel is going so well so we can course-correct: or even stop if you persistently aren’t getting what you need from the work with me. I listen carefully to your feedback because it’s important to me to hear your experience.


Ending phase

 

When the active work is done, you may need some time to grieve in therapy for the childhood you didn’t have. We’ll prepare for ending. We can look at what you’ll keep working on yourself after therapy ends. We’ll say goodbye! Getting to this phase is always special: that happy/sad feeling I have when you doesn’t need me any longer!

 

Imagine if that client one day was you!

 

If this sounds like something you’d like to try for yourself, why not get in touch with me to get the ball rolling? Send me an email: I’d like to hear from you.

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