Your first session
What a first session is like
The steps in order, what the first minutes are like, and what is said about confidentiality before you begin.
AI-generated illustration. Not a real office.
From the first call to the first session
Five steps, in order. The free call is optional: you can go straight to a first session if you already know who you would like to see.
A free call
Book a free fifteen-minute call to see whether we're a good fit. It's a conversation about what you're looking for and how we work, by telephone or video — not a therapy session, and there is nothing to pay for it.
A first session booked
On the call, or straight from the calendar on this site: a clinician, in person or by video, and a time. The confirmation e-mail carries your Good Faith Estimate.
Forms before you come
Your clinician sends the practice's intake forms and consent through the practice's client portal before the first session — never through this website. That is where your date of birth goes, and anything you want them to know.
The first session
Fifty minutes. Your clinician goes through confidentiality and its limits, asks what brings you, and listens. You don't have to tell everything at once.
Deciding together
At the end you agree whether to go on, how often, and what you'd like to be different. If another clinician or another kind of help would suit you better, you'll hear that too.
What the first minutes are like
Nobody expects you to begin with the hardest thing. Your clinician says hello, tells you how the session will go, and goes through confidentiality and its limits before you say anything you might want to keep.
Then the questions are open ones: what brought you, what you would like to be different, what you have already tried. You can answer them in any order, say that you would rather come back to one, or say nothing for a while.
A first session is mostly listening, on both sides. You are also deciding whether this person is someone you could talk to, and a good clinician wants you to say so if the answer is no.
AI-generated illustration. Not a real office.
Forms are in the client portal, not here
Your clinician sends the practice's intake forms and consent through the practice's client portal before the first session — never through this website. That is where your date of birth goes, and anything you want them to know.
This website only asks what an appointment needs, and never why you are coming.
Nothing clinical online. This form asks only for what an appointment needs: your name, how to reach you, who you'd like to see, what kind of session and when. It never asks why you're coming — that conversation is for your clinician, not for a website — and nothing you type here is shared with an advertiser, a tracker or anyone outside the practice.
The limits of confidentiality, said at the start
These are the five things your clinician goes through with you before you begin. You can ask about any of them at any time.
With your written permission
We share information with somebody else — a doctor, a school, a family member — only when you have said so in writing, and only what you agreed to.
If a child may be at risk
Every clinician here is required by law to report a reasonable suspicion that a child they see in their work is being abused or maltreated (Social Services Law § 413).
If someone may be seriously harmed
When, in a clinician's professional judgment, a client is likely to do something that would seriously harm themselves or someone else, the clinician must report it to the county's director of community services (Mental Hygiene Law § 9.46).
If a court orders it
What you say to a social worker is privileged in court, with exceptions the law lists, among them a plan to commit a crime or a harmful act (CPLR 4508). A subpoena alone is not an order, and we would talk to you first.
If you use your insurance
If you send our statement to your insurer for out-of-network reimbursement, the insurer sees the dates, the fee and the codes on it. That is your choice, and it does not waive anything else (CPLR 4508).
Private, with limits. What you tell your therapist is confidential, with limits set by law. We must act if we believe a child is being abused (Social Services Law § 413), if someone is at serious risk of harming themselves or others (Mental Hygiene Law § 9.46), or if a court orders it. We'll go through these limits with you at the start, and you can ask about them any time.
In person or by video
Office days and video days. Each clinician's day is either an office day, when every session is in person here, or a video day, when every session is by video. Choose in person or video and the calendar shows you the times that fit.
In New York State. Video sessions are for clients who are physically in New York State at the time of each session, because that is the state a New York license covers. If you're traveling outside New York, we may need to pause video sessions or meet in person when you're back.
Teenagers, with a parent's consent. We see teenagers aged 13 to 17. A parent or legal guardian books the first session and consents to treatment, and usually joins part of it. What a teenager says in therapy stays private, with a few exceptions we explain to the family at the start, such as a risk of serious harm.
No promised result. Therapy works differently for everyone. We can't promise a particular result, and nobody honestly can, but we'll review with you regularly how it's going and whether something else would serve you better.
Book a free call
Book a free fifteen-minute call, or go straight to a first session if you know what you want. Nothing is paid online, and nothing on the form asks why you're coming.