If you’ve been thinking about starting therapy but haven’t made the call yet, there’s a good chance one thing is holding you back: you don’t know what’s actually going to happen.
That uncertainty is one of the most common reasons people put it off. So let’s just walk through it.
Before You Even Arrive
At Campbell Counseling, your intake paperwork is completed online before your first appointment. No clipboards in a waiting room, no scrambling to remember your insurance card. You’ll get a link ahead of time, fill everything out from home, and show up ready to actually talk.
Your first session is 50 minutes.
What the First Session Actually Looks Like
The intake session at Campbell Counseling isn’t a clinical interrogation. It’s a conversation.
Your therapist will ask questions to understand your situation: what’s been going on, what’s feeling hard, what you’re hoping therapy might help with. There’s no rigid script, no checklist of symptoms to run through. We’re not a medical model practice with a lot of forms and red tape. We’re here to listen and get to know you.
And if you’re not entirely sure how to describe what’s going on? That’s okay too. A lot of people come in knowing something feels off but not having the words for it yet. Helping you figure that out is part of the work. You don’t need to have it all sorted before you walk in the door.
It’s Okay If It Feels a Little Awkward
Here’s something therapists don’t say enough: the first session can feel a little weird. You’re sitting across from someone you’ve never met, talking about things that are personal, maybe things you’ve never said out loud before.
That’s normal. It doesn’t mean therapy isn’t working or that you chose the wrong person. It just means you’re doing something new.
Most people leave their first session feeling a mix of things: relieved, a little tired, maybe uncertain. That’s also normal. Give it a few sessions before you decide how you feel about it.
What You Don’t Have To Do
- Have a crisis or a dramatic reason for being there
- Share everything in the first session
- Commit to anything beyond showing up
- Have a breakdown or a breakthrough
- Know exactly what you need
You just have to show up. We’ll figure out the rest together.
What If We’re Not the Right Fit?
Sometimes a client and a therapist aren’t the best match and that’s okay. It doesn’t mean therapy won’t work for you. It just means the fit wasn’t right.
If that happens, we’ll help you find someone who is. We won’t just send you away with a vague list of names. We’ll do the work of connecting you with the right person whether that’s someone else within our practice or a trusted referral outside of it
One Practice, A Lot of Options
Part of the vision behind Campbell Counseling was to bring a wide range of services together under one roof so that clients and families could have real options without having to start over somewhere new every time a need changes.
That might look like a couple coming in for therapy while their child attends one of our groups. Or kids getting individual support while their parents join a parenting workshop. Or someone who starts in individual therapy and later wants to bring in their partner.
Our clinicians specialize in couples therapy, trauma and OCD, child and adolescent therapy, art therapy, grief, somatic approaches, and more. Whatever is going on for you or your family, there’s likely someone here who works with exactly that.
We Make It Easy to Get Started
We respond quickly to inquiries usually within 24 hours. We accept insurance (including UHC/UMR and Anthem) and offer sessions with supervised interns at reduced rates to make therapy as accessible as possible.
If you’ve been waiting for the right moment, this is a good one.
Reach out here to get started.
Campbell Counseling is a group therapy practice on the Northside of Indianapolis. We offer individual therapy, couples therapy, therapy for kids and teens, and specialty groups and workshops. In-network with UHC/Optum and Anthem.
