Why We Combine your Free Consultation with your Intake Appointment
Many therapists offer a free 15-minute consultation, either by phone or telehealth, before scheduling your first appointment. This is to give you a chance to meet your clinician and ask any questions you may have so you can feel comfortable working with them.
We used to do that, too, with a separate free consultation, followed by going back to scheduling to start actual services. Now, we combine the consultation into an intake appointment that may be up to 90-minutes long.
Intake-Consult Combo
In the Intake-Consult Combo for counseling or life-coaching, the first 15 minutes are for consultation. For an assessment, the first 30 minutes are for screening and consultation.
When you make your Intake-Consult appointment, we encourage you to go ahead and schedule your future appointments at the same time. It is very easy to cancel appointments if you decide not to go forward, but if your therapist’s calendar is pretty full, you may have to wait longer for your next appointment. Getting them on the calendar at once saves those dates for you if you decide on the full assessment or continuing counseling or coaching sessions.
How Does it Work?
At the beginning of your counseling or life coaching intake appointment, you and your counselor or coach can ask questions to get to know each other and see if you are a good fit. After 15 minutes, they will ask you if you want to go forward with the session. If you say no, then the session ends there and then, and you will not be charged. If you decide to go forward, then your counseling or coaching session starts right away, and at the end of the session you will be charged the session fee.
At the beginning of an assessment session, you may ask your assessor any questions you may have. You will also be given a brief screener. The results of the screener will help you and your clinician decide if autism assessment is right for you. Regardless of the screener outcome, you have the final word about going forward with the assessment. If you decide not to get the full assessment, your session ends within a half hour of starting, and you will not be charged. If you decide to go forward, your first assessment session begins, and you will be charged the agreed-upon rate after the session.
Why Do We Do it This Way?
In the past, we scheduled separate free consultations for clients. What we discovered was that when the client wanted to go forward, there might be a delay in service depending on how quickly they wanted to be seen and how full their clinician’s calendar was. This way, you are guaranteed to start your intake the same day as your free consultation, with no waiting. It streamlines the process.
Are You Interested?
If you’d like to schedule an Intake-Consult session, reach out and contact [email protected]. There is no risk, since after 15 minutes (counseling or coaching) or 30 minutes (assessment) you may end the session and owe not a penny. We want you to meet your team member before you make your decision, and then we want you to start receiving the services you want right away. You deserve support, and we’re here to help.
