Your First Session
The type of treatment that you have selected will have some influence on how a typical first session goes with your doctor. The Arroyos offers individual therapy, medication management, couples and family therapy, group therapy, and psychological testing. If you are doing a telehealth session, additional issues about distance therapy will be discussed, and your therapist will check to make sure you are comfortable with the teletherapy format. A typical first session for each of these types of treatment is described in the sections below.
Individual Therapy
Prospective patients or their families contact us by calling us on the phone, sending an email, or completing the contact form on the website. One of our Intake Coordinators will reach out to you as soon as we receive your initial contact, however you chose to reach out to us. Your Intake Coordinator will speak with you for around 15 minutes to understand what kind of help you are looking for and if we may be a good match. If so, we will proceed with more in-depth screening to make sure that we understand your problems and issues more comprehensively, and you also understand our financial policies and procedures. If we are not the right fit for you, we will do our best to help you find the resources that you need.
Medication Management
Your first session with your psychiatrist is usually focused on reviewing your Initial Intake Assessment so that your psychiatrist understands your past mental health and medical history, diagnosis, and current medications. Your psychiatrist will also review what your treatment plan is with The Arroyos and what types of psychotherapy you are also receiving. Your psychiatrist will then discuss your diagnosis, symptoms, and goals for medication. You and your psychiatrist will then develop an initial treatment plan together to outline goals for your medication management. If you are given prescriptions for medications, these will most likely be filled using electronic prescribing (e-prescribing).
Couples and Family Therapy
Your first session with your couples or family therapist is usually focused on helping your therapist understand the goals you and your partner or family have for this type of treatment. The therapist will need to explain how couples and family therapy works, and provide some ground rules, such as issues about confidentiality and seeing the relationship or the family as his or her patient, rather than any one person as the patient (other than with Family Focused Therapy or FFT, in which the individual therapist often also serves as the family therapist). You and your therapist will then develop an initial treatment plan together to outline goals for your couples or family therapy.
Group Therapy
In the first group therapy session, the group therapist will have you and other group members introduce themselves to one another, and have everyone briefly share their symptoms and why they are attending the group. You can share as much as you are comfortable within the first session. The group therapist will remind the group about the group’s ground rules, including confidentiality and privacy. The Arroyos offers different types of groups, some more informational and others more process-oriented. Group sessions are often focused around a topic but are somewhat loosely structured to allow group members to respond to current topics and patient concerns flexibly.
Psychological Testing
In the first session, your clinical psychologist typically will explain why another Arroyos doctor has recommended psychological testing. Your psychologist will then ask you your thoughts about participating in psychological testing and answer any questions or concerns that you may have. Most psychologists will outline the estimated length of time required to complete the testing, provide you with a brief overview of the types of tests required, and encourage you to be open and let the psychologist know how you feel as the testing sessions proceed.