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First Session Prep

Nobody arrives at a first session knowing how to do it. Fifteen minutes with this page means you walk in with a starting point instead of a blank.

Safety note: This worksheet is educational and is not emergency care, therapy, or a diagnosis. If you may hurt yourself or someone else, call 911 or call or text 988 now.

Type straight into the boxes. Your answers save in this browser on this device only — never sent anywhere, never seen by anyone else.

01 Set up your space

Telehealth works best when the room is doing some of the work for you. A quick pass through this list before the session removes most of what usually goes wrong.

Somewhere private enough that you are not managing who can hear you.
Headphones, if other people are home.
Test the camera and connection once, earlier in the day.
Water nearby, and tissues within reach.
A door you can close, or a parked car — plenty of people use the car.

02 What I want help with

In your own words, not clinical words. “I cannot sleep and I snap at my kids” is a better answer than anything more polished.

03 How long this has been going on

Roughly when did it start, and has anything made it clearly better or clearly worse?

04 What would make therapy worth it

Finish this sentence: I would know this was working if…

05 What I am worried about

Being judged, crying, running out of things to say, being told it is not that bad. Naming it here makes it easier to name out loud.

06 Questions I want to ask

You are allowed to interview your counselor. Fees, availability, approach, experience with what you are facing — all fair game.

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