I have the same situation coming up later this week. I do know the guy and have sessions with him before. He is very smart and has a great memory so he has somehow be able to keep my history in his head. That makes it a little easier.

But I'm not going to talk about my history this time. I had wondered too how would I use the session, but there is something up that is bothering me so I'm just going to jump into it and have him help me with it. He has a different temperament and style than my own therapist, but he is good in other ways. Actually in some ways, he might be better right now. He's more blunt and is less the happy optimist that my regular shrink is.

So perhaps the best thing is to just jump in and talk about what is up for you?

I once saw another cover person whom I did not know. It was more of a "maintenance" session so I just gave him some of my history and then related it to how I was doing. He was appreciative that I was able to provide him background and had a slightly different take on it than my usual therapist so that was interesting.