WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THERAPY

You know you need help, you can't hide how you feel anymore, and the darkness is closing in. You still wonder if you can make it another day. You show up and do your job, but you are racing through the day to get to your car so you can fall apart. You know you need help, but you've never asked for it. You don't know how, and you don't know where to start you feel as if you are alone and fighting a losing battle.
You are here, so you are asking the questions, you wonder what to expect from therapy or counseling. Two factors make up the answer to that question. Who you are and who your therapist or counselor is. No two therapists or counselors are the same, and no two therapy sessions are the same. You can expect some similarities, though.
Your first counseling or therapy appointment will consist mostly of you telling your story. You haven't been able to tell anyone how you feel. Maybe you've tried, but no one listens. You probably feel as if you can't talk without falling apart, and you just don't want to do that. This appointment is meant for you to be able to fall apart. You get to cry and describe the black fog and how much you have tried to find answers but just can't. You get to describe your exhaustion and how you feel as if you have been beating your head against a wall. You can tell your story if you want to.
Maybe you would rather hear from the provider. You have questions. Hopefully, most of your questions were answered in a free fifteen-minute phone consultation. Click the link to schedule
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Maybe you have more questions. This is the time to ask them. This session likely will also include some evaluations or assessments of you. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC typically wants to help you relax and will employ a relaxation technique from Accelerated Resolution Therapy to help calm you. You can take this technique home with you and begin practicing it to help with negative emotions at home as well. This will allow us to get the necessary history and make a plan for future sessions.

Your first session will last about 55 minutes and will consist of some basic housekeeping explanations, which are listed below.

## A List Of Topics Discussed In The First Session ##
You will be asked some version of, "How did you find out about me?" This question is about marketing. You are the only one who can help us know how we are doing in the community and who is sending people to us. We want to work with people who want to work with us. We will never risk compromising your privacy. We may find a way to just say hello to those who send people our way, but not if it places your privacy at risk.
Many people who enter therapy or counseling are experiencing a crisis. You may even be on the brink of doing something drastic, such as taking your own life or someone else's. Maybe you feel that way, maybe you don't. You likely can agree that no one wants that to happen. You want to get a plan in place to prevent it. We will do this in the first session. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC does rely upon local emergency services and encourages you to call one of the following numbers: 988, 911, Mobile Crisis: 865-524-5309. You can also go to the nearest emergency room. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC does monitor the phone during their regular business hours for urgent needs.
You likely will already know by your first session that you can log into your portal and change appointments as needed. The window for changes without contacting the office is 48 hours. This allows the provider an opportunity to ensure newly requested times are available.
The first session will include a conversation about emergency and inclement weather cancelations. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC will text or email you any cancellations. These will be done through TherapyNotes, the current electronic healthcare record for the practice. The provider may also send you a personal notification and prefers to do so. A cancellation notice will be rare, and a notice less than twenty-four hours before your scheduled appointment will be extremely rare and only done in the case of an emergency. Your time is valuable, and you deserve the respect of advanced notice if canceling becomes necessary.
We will discuss your cancellation policy as well. Appointments canceled less than 24 hours before the scheduled appointment time will result in a charge of the full $175 fee. Payment is expected at the time of service to prevent falling behind. Four appointments throughout a month cost $700. You may find it difficult to catch up if you start to fall behind. When insurance is in use, late cancellations will cost the same amount as the contract rate with your insurance.
We will discuss billing, while therapy is affordable, the cost can feel overwhelming. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC charges $175 for a fifty-minute to sixty-minute session. Sessions lasting more than sixty minutes are prorated to add the additional amounts.
We will discuss something called a "Good Faith Estimate." You need to know what charges to expect. We have become accustomed to insurance paying our medical bills, and insurance is changing in such a way as to throw some of that cost back on us. Treatment for mental health is no different.
Insurance may be discussed as well. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC does have contracts with some insurance companies at this time. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC is working on learning to bill out-of-network insurance, and until that happens, The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC can print the completed document for you to send to your insurance company for reimbursement. With the contracted insurance, you will be billed at the contracted rate. We are working to negotiate reasonable rates with those insurances.
A couple of other miscellaneous topics that come up occasionally are about court and professional letters. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC charges $75 to write professional letters. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC does not complete FMLA paperwork or service animal letters; you need to talk with your primary care Dr. about those. The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC does charge to attend court and will discuss those fees as needed. Generally, The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy, LLC charges double the hourly rate and includes preparation time as well as travel time.
The Lion's Lamb Family Therapy will also introduce you to an outcome-tracking tool called My Outcomes. The purpose of the tool is to ensure your success. We will use this tool at the beginning of each session to evaluate your progress through the week and at the end of each session to determine if your goals are met during the session. We want you to get better, and while there are many tracking tools and evaluation tools available, My Outcomes tracks the most important factor to your improvement, and that is the quality of your relationship with your therapist or counselor.
## Conclusion ##

Your first session is packed with business, but the most important business in that appointment is you. Therapists and counselors talk about being client-centered. The recognized standard of care for therapists and counselors is that your needs and desires are the focus of the session. Throughout your journey in therapy or counseling, there should be constant evaluation and checks to ensure that you are making progress. Your therapist or counselor will establish a treatment plan with your goals, and you will work together to accomplish those goals. Therapy and counseling are a collaborative effort between you, the patient or client, and the provider with a common goal to help you grow past the debilitating life events that have created this heavy darkness that is driving you to despair.
Both therapy and counseling are challenging. Pausing to look inside your own heart and your motives to figure out the thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that are causing you to drown in hopelessness is not easy. You can do it, though. You weren't meant to figure life out alone. You weren't meant to hurt alone, and you weren't meant to carry hurt, anger, bitterness, and resentment for the rest of your life. Therapy and counseling, depending on your needs and circumstances, can open the door to hope and healing for you and those you love. Click the link and schedule your free fifteen-minute consult today.

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