1. The First Session: Getting to Know Each Other
Therapy begins with a first session focused on understanding you as a whole person. We take time to get to know your story, your concerns, and what brought you to therapy. This session is also about checking fit. We explore whether my therapeutic approaches feel right for you and whether you feel safe, understood, and comfortable working together.
During this session, I gather relevant clinical information while also listening carefully to your experience, expectations, and goals. Therapy works best when it is collaborative, transparent, and built on trust.
2. Collaborative Case Formulation and Treatment Planning
Based on what we explore together, we collaboratively develop a personalized treatment plan. This plan is tailored to your unique needs, difficulties, strengths, values, and goals.
Rather than using a one-size-fits-all model, we work together to understand patterns related to thoughts, emotions, behaviors, relationships, and life experiences, including past or ongoing stress and trauma. The treatment plan remains flexible and can be adjusted as therapy progresses.
3. Active Therapy: Skills, Healing, and Change
After the first session, we begin the therapeutic work. Sessions may include a combination of:
- Learning and practicing therapeutic skills
- Identifying and understanding psychological difficulties and life challenges
- Trauma healing and emotional processing at a pace that feels safe
- Problem-solving and decision-making strategies
- Developing emotional regulation and distress tolerance
- Cultivating self-compassion and kindness toward yourself
- Clarifying values and working toward meaningful life goals
Interventions are drawn from evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), compassion-focused work, and trauma-informed practices. The focus is always on what is most helpful for you.
4. Becoming Your Own Therapist
A central goal of therapy is to help you become your own therapist. This means gradually building the insight, skills, and confidence needed to understand your inner experiences, respond more flexibly to difficulties, and take care of your mental health outside of sessions.
Masarat Clinic 