Today was my first session back in therapy which was long overdue. It can take some trial and error to find the right therapist. In some cases its evident right from the start that someone isn’t right for you… let me explain.
I arrived moments before my scheduled appointment. Temperature checked, signed in and then collected by my new therapist. As I was walking back to his office I could hear a voice coming from within my purse so as we settled I said “I’m so sorry, excuse me one second. Boy George is talking” as I dug around in my purse to silence the voice. Confused (concerned?) eyebrows were apparent over top of his mask.
Oh, maybe I should back up – so Waze currently allows you to set Boy George as the voice who gives you directions. He loves talking about types of tea apparently which is an added bonus for me so he’s currently in charge of mini-van navigation. This happened to me in JoAnn Fabric’s too- I made a woman laugh really hard while telling Owen he had to wait to talk to me until I got Boy George to shut up. Apparently I’m really bad at remembering to stop my navigation.
So, that was my first impression. Let’s try to recover, shall we?
“What brings you to therapy? How can we help?”
Now, mind you, its only a 30 min introduction session. I try to sum up 20+ years of my life and get to the current stuff, which I mostly manage. A resounding “WOW” follows my word vomit and he apologizes that we don’t have more time because I’m clearly not done laying out all the shit I have to work through. “No problem, sir. I’ve been holding all my trauma in a burlap sack for years, I can wait till next week!” This is not well received… *insert awkward chuckle*.
To wrap up we go through all the paperwork. You know the “How many times in the last few weeks…” survey that’s supposed to be some sort of tell all about my mental health. Never, sometimes, more than half of the days…
Apparently when your therapist asks “You know your name, the date and where you are” and you respond “yeah, most of the time” you have to clarify that you’re joking or it raises additional concern. *insert more awkward chuckling and cringey face*
So, in summation, it wasn’t great? It really wasn’t horrible either, I’m gonna give it a few more sessions before I decide if this particular practitioner will work for me. Boy George says “If I was a blend of tea I definitely be oolong, fun to say and a little spicy”. I really need someone who can handle spicy tea.