Matt Dellon

The first session is about getting to know you or your child, understanding what’s been going on, and starting to make sense of what may be contributing to it. I ask questions, but I don’t expect anyone to tell me their whole life story right away. We’ll talk about what brought you in, what you’d like help with, and what would make therapy feel useful, comfortable, and worth coming back to.

Progress can look different for everyone. Sometimes it’s feeling less overwhelmed or reactive. Sometimes it’s communicating more clearly, recovering faster after a difficult moment, recognizing a pattern sooner, or handling something differently than before. We’ll keep checking in about what’s changing, what still feels stuck, and whether therapy is helping in ways that matter to you or your family.

Parents should feel informed and involved without taking away the child or teen’s sense that therapy is their space. How we communicate depends on age, needs, and what’s happening clinically. I may check in with parents periodically, collaborate around concerns or patterns at home, and share useful themes or strategies while protecting the privacy that helps trust develop in therapy. I encourage a monthly parents’ session (without their child) to ensure we are aligned at home, school, and the virtual therapy room. Parents find me easily accessible and highly responsive in Emora’s dashboard.

That’s okay :) . I don’t expect trust to happen on command. Some kids talk right away; others need time to figure out who I am and whether this feels like a place they can be themselves. I focus first on connection, curiosity, and understanding what matters to them rather than forcing personal conversations. Often, once a young person realizes therapy isn’t another place where they’re being evaluated, lectured, or “doing it right or wrong," the conversation changes.

I generally protect the details of what a teen shares while keeping parents informed about broader themes, progress, and ways they can help. When possible, I also involve the teen in deciding what gets shared. Teens should know that they can speak honestly with me while parents still understand how therapy is going. I explain confidentiality clearly in our first session, including its limits around safety concerns.

Sometimes, but I don’t believe in assigning work just to assign it. We may identify something useful to notice, practice, try differently, or talk about between sessions. That could be a coping strategy, communication or behavioral experiment, routine change, or simply paying attention to when a certain pattern shows up. The goal is to make therapy useful and helpful in navigating real-life situations. No one needs another checklist to complete.

There isn’t one timeline that fits everyone. Some people come in with a specific concern and notice meaningful progress relatively quickly. Others are working through patterns that developed over years and benefit from more time. I regularly check in with clients to see what they feel is improving, what still needs attention, and whether the pace and direction of therapy continue to make sense rather than keeping therapy going simply because it has become routine.

I see ending therapy as something we decide together. We’ll look at the goals that brought you in, what has changed, how confident you or your child feel handling challenges outside of therapy, and whether sessions are still adding value. Therapy doesn’t need to continue forever to have been successful. Ideally, you leave with greater understanding, useful tools, and confidence that you can keep moving forward without needing me every week.