I choose what to talk about most days. He doesn't know what is most important to me to discuss, so he can't take the lead. Like at my last session, he brought up an important topic from the previous session to check in on that, and I gave a brief answer, but then I directed the session to what was important that day. He is very good at following my cue and discussing what I need to. If I am having trouble bringing up a difficult topic, I tell him that, and he will help me.

If we are doing a "protocol driven" session, like EMDR, he leads, as we have to get through the set steps in a certain order and in a limited timeframe. Yeah, anything that is technique-driven, he has to do.