First Therapy Session

[ashleynikole]

Hey all,

So in less than 3 days, I have my first therapy session with my therapist, so I am curious what I should expect it to be about. The therapist talked about getting a lot of background and backstory before diving into current issues but I just wanted to get a feel for anyone's thoughts on how one my expect it to go?

Oh yeah, here's the kicker, my wife of almost 13 yrs will be with me because she too suffers from GD and so we are walking this road together and I'm sure that changes the dynamics of a session.

Thoughts?

[Ariamythe]

First therapy sessions are almost always you telling your story, and then the therapist asking some follow-up questions, and then the hour is up and that'll be $80 please.

[thechic]

Yep ,Its your story first session,they are helpful but expensive.

[steftoday]

First therapy sessions are almost always you telling your story, and then the therapist asking some follow-up questions, and then the hour is up and that'll be $80 please.

$80? Not my experience. Double that for the first one. And worth every penny.

[Kimberly Kael]

First therapy sessions are almost always you telling your story, and then the therapist asking some follow-up questions

True, but it's also a good time to make it clear why you wanted to start therapy together in the first place, including what you want to get out of it. You can just talk, or you can make sure you show up with a direction you want to take the session. The latter is more productive in my experience. I always went in with notes.

[dreamer_2.0]

$80? Yeesh I wish! $150/hr here. :(

[Angela Campbell]

Yah I did $80 a week too. First meeting was pretty much telling why I was there and it seemed like in about 10 minutes the hour was up. It always goes fast.

I walked in, sat down and said "I want to transition" !

[Ariamythe]

To be honest, the first therapist I went to was $80, but was also not a gender therapist and ran her own little office above a jewelry shop. The qualified gender therapists around here to price a little higher. :)

[LeaP]

First sessions are intake. A lot of information is exchanged (you can ask whatever you need to, too) and one thing the therapist will do is evaluate if you can work effectively together. You should expect the therapist to ask what you expect to get out of therapy.

Wow, no insurance coverage in this group? My co-pay for my last therapist was $20. That's gone up at my new job to $40, but still beats out of pocket, which for my new therapist is $150.

[I Am Paula]

Like Almostalady, I stated my intentions right off the mark, so we wouldn't waste time saying 'Did you have any pets as a child?'. It was still autobiographical, but we cut to the chase in the first session.

[ashleynikole]

Yeah, I know the cost going in and since I have a HUGE deductible, I'll be paying cash until that is met.

My biggest concern is steering or leading the session because I want the truth. I want to dig in, find out if I am TS because of biological or sociological reasons or something else. I just want to make sure that transition is something I SHOULD do. I mean, I feel my dysphoria deeper and deeper every day and like someone said in another thread, I feel like I'm practically chewing a hole through the door to get to HRT so I can get out of my current body and get all the right parts in all the right places, but I also don't want to force an issue if its something like autogynephilia or I just want to be a glorified crossdresser (which I highly doubt on either of those). Ultimately I want the truth and then make an informed decision from there. I interviewed a bunch of therapists before I chose one so he knows why we are coming in and just a little on how deep it goes in me. Shouldn't be too hard to cut to the chase.

Appreciate the input from all.

[SabrinaWTG]

Ashley,
I just had my 3rd session (4th coming up this week)
When I went in and we got through the first couple minutes of pleasantries my therapist stated that usually the first 3 session will cover my history and backstory and then by the 4th one we'll be talking about transitioning, HRT and other things related to transition and coming out.
I did pretty much the same thing I read here ... walked in and first words were I want to transition and start HRT so make sure she knew what path I wanted to take.

I have to say my first 3 sessions have been amazing. Not only getting to tell my story but also growing to respect and be comfortable with my therapist. I'm so excited for session #4 that sometimes I wish my sessions were 2 hours instead of only 1, but I understand how those things work.

Speaking of cost - I'm so grateful my insurance covers part of it, my co-pay is only $40.

I'm also curious to hear more about your story since you mentioned your wife has GD too.

Good luck and keep us informed as to how things go.

Hugs
Sabrina

[Angela Campbell]

My biggest concern is steering or leading the session because I want the truth. I want to dig in, find out if I am TS because of biological or sociological reasons or something else. I just want to make sure that transition is something I SHOULD do.

I didn't bother with any of that. I knew what I wanted since i was four I just had to work up the courage to pull the trigger. Once I did I wanted to get help to transition. My therapist didn't have a problem once I told him what I wanted and why and that I have thought about it every day for my entire life. We moved quickly to how to transition, and away from the should I transition. For me that is the truth.

I walked in dressed as a woman, and the first words I said was I want to transition. He asked me why and I said because I am a woman, and have always been. He asked me how long I knew that and I told him since I was four. we discussed my childhood and growing up and a little on my marriages and he agreed very quickly that I am on the right path and he set about leading me on the way.

[ashleynikole]

Thanks all,

Great information. I will keep you all posted on how it goes.

Sabrina, if you follow our blog in my signature, then you can keep up with all our adventures and musings right there. Having a GD spouse should make for an interesting life indeed. Perhaps it will make things easier in coming out for both of us so when our parents say, "well...what does X think about this?" then we can go, "Funny you ask that because they have it too."

[I Am Paula]

Please, without trying to derail this thread, tell us how you came to meet, marry, and prosper with another person with GD. This must have brought it's own set of problems and dilemmas. Did GD bring you together, and do you both plan on transitioning together? If it's none of my business, just say so. -thanks

[ashleynikole]

Sure thing Celeste (and don't worry...this will tie into the thread toward the end).

When Corbin (my spouse's FTM name) and I met, neither of us were looking to date people and our first meeting and hangout was actually just a get together of friends. Neither of us knew at the time that we were transgender or that anything like that existed or was possible. We'd always had our issues and as usual, we were good at putting on masks to hide our true selves because our true selves would never have been accepted by our close circle of friends and family.
Well, I left my sunglasses in Corbin's car and had to call him to find out when I could get them back. Something inside of me stirred me to ask him out on a personal date. I didn't want to, but I felt compelled to do so. He didn't want to say yes, but was compelled to do so. So we had our first date and we hit it off from there on out. Really we found we had a lot in common and had a lot of common life goals and desires and the rest is history (13 yrs of marriage this coming Spring).

So today we had our first therapy session (just got back an hour ago) and it was very productive. We actually talked about that very topic and how neither of us knew about the other until 2006 when Corbin's same sex attraction issues came out and we tried dealing with this in the societal acceptable way. My understanding of being more than a crossdresser didn't come to light until earlier this year but as we both explored this path over the last 6 months, we came to understand the concept of being transgender and after reading a lot and listening to a lot of others' stories, we found that this is exactly who we were made to be.

Our therapist didn't hesitate for a moment to lay out that from his professional opinion, transition will most likely be our only option and we will be focusing on the plans and processes that make that happen. So it was cool for someone other than ourselves to see and hear some of our life experiences and how we viewed and interacted with said experiences really do show that we were blessed in this way and that "the forces of the universe" brought us together.

So thanks all for the insight of what to expect on my first therapy session and of course you can always follow our continued experiences at our blog (see Celeste...no threadjacking here...hehe).