How you begin your therapy sessions

ABOUT THE EPISODE

What changes when we pay attention to the start of a session?

Natalie invites you to reflect on your usual openings. Do you begin with a question, an exercise, silence or something else? Drawing on a poll of therapists, she considers how different approaches can be tailored to a client’s needs.

The episode moves through self-reflection, agenda setting, client-led and therapist-led beginnings, mindfulness and more creative ways to open the conversation.

What are some different ways to start a therapy session?

There isn’t one opening that will suit every client or every session. The way you begin can invite reflection, create structure, settle the pace or make room for whatever feels most pressing that day.

The episode explores several possibilities:

• A client-led opening that gives the client space to decide where to begin
• Agenda setting when a little more structure would be useful
• A brief mindfulness or grounding practice
• A therapist-led question or reflection
• A more creative opening when familiar questions have started to feel automatic

The point is not to find a perfect opening script. It is to notice what your usual beginning invites, consider what this particular client may need, and experiment thoughtfully with what happens when you start differently.

This is an educational reflection for qualified therapists rather than a rule for how sessions should begin. Any opening still needs to fit your formulation, therapeutic approach and the client in front of you.