I find that a strange question because I thought CBT was a type of talk therapy. When she says "talk therapy", what "flavor" does she mean if not CBT? She will provide CBT talk therapy vs. ______ talk therapy, but what goes in the blank? Other types of talk therapy include psychodynamic, humanistic, gestalt, interpersonal, existential, ego state, etc. And there is good old "eclectic" too, meaning the therapist draws on a number of different types of therapy in their efforts.

I think as she gets to know you better, she will know better what therapeutic techniques will be beneficial to you. It's different for every client, depending not only on their personality but what issues they have.

A clinical psychologist told me once that in her experience CBT helps about 50% of people who are depressed, which is also what the literature reports. (I'm not sure this is relevant to you as I don't know if depression is why you are seeking help from a therapist.) She has a higher success rate with interpersonal therapy so that is usually her default mode of therapy until she gets to know the client and might switch if it seems CBT is a better fit.

That doesn't sound good! It can be hard to open up with someone who is being judgmental. Maybe, as you said, she was just nervous.

Maybe you can just go for a few sessions and get to know each other before deciding exactly what sort of techniques she will use. If I went to see a T and they had a detailed plan at the end of the session without even knowing me, I would be suspicious and think they were using a "one size fits all" approach, so I am glad your new T does not seem to be like that. I think, overall, your first session sounded pretty promising! I hope you will stick with it for a least a couple more sessions and get to know her better so you can tell if it will be a good fit or not. Good luck.