What to expect
Nobody tells you what actually happens.
So here it is, start to finish: the phone call, the walk in, the fifty minutes, and what happens at the end. Read it now and there will be nothing left to be nervous about except the thing you are coming to talk about.
How it goes
From first call to last session.
- 01
The free call
About 15 minutes, on the phone. You say roughly what is going on — it does not have to be tidy — and I say whether I think I can help. If someone else would suit you better, I will say so and point you at them.
- 02
Picking a time
We find a slot. Evenings are available. If you would rather not come in at all, phone and video sessions are the same length and the same fee.
- 03
The first session
Fifty minutes. Mostly you talking, at whatever pace you have. I will ask some questions about what brought you and what you would like to be different. There is no assessment to pass.
- 04
Deciding whether to continue
At the end we talk plainly about whether it felt useful. Some people come for a handful of sessions and are done. Some stay longer. You are not signing up for anything open-ended.
Before you come
The whole walk, from the footpath to the chair.
Not knowing what you are walking into is its own reason to put this off. So here is every step of it, in order, with nothing dressed up. There are four.
- 01Denmark Street
You find the gate
The centre is a weatherboard house set back off Denmark Street, behind a hedge. Street parking out front, and the 109 tram stops a few minutes away. The sign says Tree of Life.
- 02The garden
You walk up the path
A short garden path and a few timber steps up to the deck. If you are early, the garden is a good place to be early in.
- 03The sunroom
You wait in the sunroom
Cane chairs, a lot of plants, and windows on three sides. Nobody will ask you why you are here. Angus comes out to meet you himself.
yours
04The roomAnd then you sit down
Two chairs, a low table, a tall window. That is the whole thing. The hardest part of counselling is already behind you by the time you are in it.
Worth knowing
Six things people are relieved to hear.
You do not have to cry.
Some people do. Plenty do not. Neither means it is working.
You do not have to know why you came.
“I don’t really know, I just feel off” is a completely workable place to start.
You will not be diagnosed.
Counselling is not a psychiatric assessment. No label gets attached to you here.
You can say the unsayable thing.
It is confidential by law, and after years of this work there is very little I have not already heard.
You can stop at any point.
No exit interview, no guilt. Just tell me, or don’t rebook.
Silence is allowed.
You do not have to fill the fifty minutes. Some of the useful bits happen in the gaps.
Still not sure? That is what the free call is for.
15 minutes, no cost, no obligation, and you can ask me anything on this page in your own words.