How About a Free Consultation
Today’s offering will probably be of more use to student and newly qualified therapists, but the public might gain a bit of insight here as well. One of the common questions I get asked by colleagues as well as students is “Why don’t you offer a free initial consultation?” The answer is simple as I see it.
The first meeting between client and therapist is a time for both parties to size the other up. It is that first moment when a client reaches out for help with their dilemma. The therapist at this point must be at his or her best and focused. The first session, is in my view, the most important as it lays out the direction the course of treatment will take.
For all too many, the “free initial” consultation is not a consultation at all. It is merely a sales pitch to convince the client that the therapist is the right one for them. Whilst, I have no issue with that in principle, I do have an issue that when we speak of a consultation, a client has the right to expect some therapeutic consulting to go on. Not simply to be told why the therapist is the right one for them.
I always recommend checking out a therapist before consulting them, there are far better ways of doing that than a “free initial consultation”.
