The first I saw 3 years ago, I had been looking for help from my youth pastor and he finally convinced my mom to let me see a T, who he found for me, I think based on her being a woman who worked w/ adolescents through a Christian agency. I think the first time she alternated between combinations of talking with me, my mom, and my youth pastor, and when I was with her I think she asked some evaluation questions. I was extremely anxious, and continued to be anxious every visit, although I think it was getting better after a couple. I was nervous when cutting came up, afraid I'd let on how suicidal I felt. And I was afraid I was just some horrible person making up problems for everyone. It didn't last very long, and I don't know what her style was, although I remember she tried to give me homework, which I really wasn't ready to do, and didn't go too well. I was never very comfortable with her, although I was feeling more optomistic about the idea when my mom suddenly decided to pull the plug on it. Mom had been very difficult w/ the subject ever since my YP first brought it up, and it threw me when she told me I wasn't going back. Made a feeble suicide attempt that night or the next, ended up going back one more week, but felt horrible with my mom and just gave in to her ideas on the whole thing, stopped going, although the T was very much against that idea. Don't know how old she was... 30's, maybe.
Second professional I saw was through the ministry I was working at, this was a year ago. No one to choose from, so that's irrelevant. I was very willing to trust her at first, although I felt pretty uncomfortable, but that's me in everything. I don't know how long I'd been talking with her in person, but I got the idea she didn't like me much. And I was always afraid she'd decide I was fake and shouldn't be there or something. I still think that. We met for a few months, but she often cancelled the meeting. She assigned me homework, too, but it was little things I was already doing, which didn't make much sense. She would often tell me I wasn't making an effort in some area, but it was always something I felt like I was doing/doing the best I knew how, or didn't know how to do, which usually lead to a homework assignment that really wasn't relevant to the concept I wasn't getting. She was formal, and it felt like she talked down to me, and viewed me as being immature and incompetent. Ended when I left the ministry - which I secretly suspect had a bit to do with her, and at least may not have become necessary had I been able to talk with someone else. Age: under 30, had recently finished her masters in social work.