I finally called a therapist.. But.. I don't know..

It's been months that I've been trying to call but I would get extremely anxious and couldn't press call. I called one that I found took both of my insurances. I wasn't expecting to be on the phone for a few minutes. The phone call lasted 33 minutes. She asked me questions about myself and my life. She would randomly tell me something that she related to. Like alcoholic fathers except she went in way detail

***[[potential trigger warning]]***
She told me her dad was abusive in more than just verbally and emotionally. She told me she was molested by her dad
***[[end]]***

I felt like she completely understands. But now that I'm sitting here thinking about it, I feel like I just got immersed into therapy. She was eating lunch when I called her. I told her I'd call her back but she said it was fine and she was going to enjoy her lunch while on the phone. Another thing that slightly bugs me is that she used my name a lot. Like every other sentence seemed to have my name in it somewhere. Is it a way t's try to remember names? She also gave me her personal cell phone number to send her a copy of my insurance card so she could call them. It seems so.. Suddenly in my face..? Type thing.

Am I just being overly anxious? And over thinking? :/


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Her profile looks good, but I think you're already uncomfortable about that first contact call. I would try auditioning another or maybe a few more therapists. That way, you can see more of what might be the norm for first contact stuff. Good luck..

That's an awful lot for a T to share on an initial phone consultation...I'd be a bit concerned about boundaries. She could have just said something like, "I hae experience working with that type of trauma" or something. On the profile, it says she's been in practice less than a year, so might just be she's really inexperienced and doesn't realize the effect oversharing can have? And, yeah, the saying your name frequently thing could have been a way to connect, I don't know.

It does say 'direct' twice on her page. It seems to me like you are not sure you are ready for 'direct', I know it isn't for me. Though her telling you what she did seems just wrong, especially over the phone on your first encounter. Maybe keep looking.

In practice less than 1 year? Graduated only 3 years ago?

Between that and the oversharing (which might be accounted for by the inexperience), plus the eating lunch on the phone, plus the insistence on the unique approach (always suspicious to me), I'd keep looking if it were me.

Just a couple of thoughts...

As others have said it seems strange that she shared stuff about her own sexual (?) trauma with you AT ALL let alone in an initial phone consultation.

The "unique approach" thing is weird too. Mainly because she's vague about what it actually consists of besides that it is a "direct" form of therapy.

Just because she's recently licensed doesn't mean you shouldn't give her a chance, but if you're uncomfortable moving forward with her, maybe schedule an initial face-to-face meeting to see how it goes or simply move on and find a different T who isn't as "in your face."

This is way too much sharing and exchanging of information, along with digestive activities. If your are nervous about starting therapy, I would pass this one up and go for someone with more experience. Honestly, a therapist should only be asking your name, contact information and availability to schedule, while you ask questions about their fees, availability, and approach to therapy to rule out if it's something you can stomach (ex: CBT). That's really all that's appropriate for an introductory phone call.

The eating on the phone part would really not be okay with me.

And if you still want to see her, I would take her link down right now, as I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate having this out there along with her history (but you could always say you were being direct).

Good luck and congratulations on putting yourself out there.

total TMI on a phone consult. i would steer clear

To be honest she sounds reckless. She doesn't have the clinical experience to start inventing her own "unique approach" and what she shared on the phone is mind-boggling.
Here on PC we take care to add a trigger warning for that kind of thing, yet she'll happily blurt it out on the phone to a potential client she's never even met?! She sounds over-confident and has the potential to cause damage.
Sorry if I'm coming across as overly harsh, but I have been damaged by over-disclosure, and I wish some Ts would think about the impact on the client before they open their mouths.

Thank you everyone. I think I'm going to keep looking because... Yeah.. I can't get over that and so I would be going in starting knowing these things that make her more.. I don't know to put it. There's a post someone made earlier about t's disclosing personal things. I can't imagine what it would be like to go in and start therapy and she slowly tell me these things and I get worse or something..

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I'm sorry about this. I know it must be tremendously disappointing to pluck up the courage to finally call only to be met with this weirdness. Don't give up.