Onboarding Process

Starting therapy takes courage, and I want to honour the steps you’re taking. While paperwork and digital onboarding forms are rarely anyone’s favourite part of beginning this journey, they are an important part of how I prepare to support you well. They help me understand more about you, what is bringing you to therapy, and what concerns or hopes you may be arriving with, so we can begin our work with greater clarity and care.

Your intake investment — what’s included: Your $300 individual intake investment is the beginning of something meaningful. It’s not just a booking — it’s me saying I’m ready for you, before we’ve even met. Here’s everything it includes:

Your first session with me: A warm, unhurried space dedicated entirely to you. We’ll explore what’s brought you here, what matters most to you, and where you’d like to go. There’s no script, just an honest, open conversation at your pace.

A personalised therapeutic plan: After our first session together, I take time to thoughtfully map out an approach designed specifically for you, so every session that follows feels intentional, not accidental.

Your secure and confidential client file: Your story deserves to be held with care. Your file is set up with high standards of privacy and confidentiality, a safe place for everything we work through together.

Personalised assessment questionnaires and onboarding forms: Before we meet, I’ll send you personalised onboarding forms and questionnaires to complete in your own time. Please allow approximately 40 minutes to work through these before your first session, and ideally set aside a quiet, private space where you can reflect and respond without feeling rushed. Some of these questions may invite a little internal reflection, which is part of why they are so valuable. They help me build an initial sense of who you are, what has been happening for you, and what concerns are bringing you to therapy, so we can use our first session to begin the work itself rather than spending that time on administration.

This onboarding process is a normal and important part of how I work. It’s very common to have some fears or mixed feelings before seeing a new therapist, especially when you’re sharing sensitive or deeply personal experiences. My commitment is to work with you ethically, thoughtfully, and within clear professional boundaries, and these steps help create a safer, more contained space for our work together. I ask that you respect this process and these boundaries so we can move into a healthy therapeutic relationship that supports your healing over time.

This is not a rushed or one-size-fits-all intake process. In my practice, the work begins before you walk through the door. I take time to read what you share, reflect carefully on what may be happening for you, and prepare for our first conversation with thoughtfulness and care. That means when you arrive, you are not meeting someone cold, generic, or starting from a blank page, you are being met by a therapist who has already begun considering how to support you well.

If you need support completing the forms, we may be able to work through them together in session. However, where possible I ask that you complete them on your own at least a couple of days before your first appointment, so I have time to review your information, and we can make the best use of our time together from the moment we begin. If forms are not completed a couple of days beforehand, we may need to use part of the first session to finish them together.

Your time held exclusively for you: The moment you book, that space belongs to you. No waitlists, no rushing, just a dedicated pocket of time set aside with you in mind.

A space designed for you (in-person sessions): You’ll be welcomed into a carefully curated, private consulting space — designed to feel calm, safe, and anything but clinical. Complimentary water is waiting, the environment is warm and considered, and every detail is intentional, because how you feel walking through the door matters just as much as what happens once you’re inside. If it helps to arrive a little earlier and settle yourself beforehand, great coffee and other beverages are available just next door at Metta Sol. You may also notice gentle chillout music as you walk in, helping the space feel a little softer, steadier, and more welcoming from the outset. Prefer to work from the comfort of your own space? Online sessions are available and just as personal.

Someone who genuinely understands: This is not another counselling practice. Polysoma exists because there is a real need for a space where people can bring their whole selves — including the parts they may never have felt able to say out loud. I bring not only clinical expertise, but a deeply thoughtful, trauma-informed, sex-positive, and non-pathologising therapeutic lens to this work, and that shapes the care you receive from the very beginning.

Before booking: Please book only when you are ready to proceed, as booking begins the onboarding process and intake preparation. Your intake fee secures your appointment time and the preparation work that begins before we meet. To protect the therapeutic frame, I do not offer pre-session chats by email or phone before booking.

Why this matters: A thoughtful intake process means I already have a sense of your background, concerns, and hopes before we meet. That allows us to begin your first session with more focus and less admin, no waiting room paperwork, no trying to complete forms just before we start, and no losing valuable session time to information that could have been gathered beforehand.

Instead, once your onboarding is complete, we can step more directly into the conversation and the work that brought you here. I understand that reaching out for therapy can feel vulnerable. My aim is to make the beginning of this process feel clear, thoughtful, and respectfully held, so you can arrive knowing there is already a space being prepared for you here.

You do not need to have everything figured out before you come — part of the work is making space for what feels unclear, tender, or hard to put into words.If you’d like a little more clarity before your first session, you’re welcome to visit my FAQs page for information about how I work, practical policies, privacy, other common questions.

I’m genuinely looking forward to walking alongside you on this journey toward healing and growth.