Kathleen Helgemo

The first session is really about hearing your story in your own words — what's brought you here, what a hard day looks like, what you're hoping feels different. If you're coming in with your child or adolescent, that often means most of the first session is with you, getting the fuller picture of your family before your child ever joins a call. If you're here for yourself, it's the same spirit — I want to understand your life, not just what's currently hard about it. Either way, there's no rush to get anywhere. We start where you are, wherever you're logging in from.

Regularly, and in a way that fits the work. If we're working on your own therapy, that communication is simply our sessions — steady, consistent time that's yours. If we're working together with your child or adolescent, I'll also check in with you as a parent between sessions, and we'll have deeper conversations periodically about what's shifting and what to try next. In both cases, you're never left wondering where things stand.

That's genuinely okay, and quite common at the start. Trust takes the time it takes. Even in quiet sessions, I'm learning a lot — through play, through presence, through how a child settles in over time, even through a screen. And when I'm also working with you as a parent, what you notice at home fills in a lot of the picture too. Opening up rarely happens on a schedule, and I'm glad to be patient with it.

I take this seriously, because it's what allows a teen to actually trust me. What they share stays private, with a few clear exceptions we talk through together up front— safety always comes to parents directly. What I share with you is the shape of things — themes, progress, what would help you support them — rather than specific details, which is what keeps that trust intact for your teen while still keeping you meaningfully informed. I'll also talk with families early on about setting up a private, consistent space at home for sessions, so your teen has room to actually open up on camera.

Sometimes, yes — for adults and for parents alike. Although, I will avoid the term “homework” since kids hear that enough at school. For individual work, that might be a small practice to try before our next session, something to notice about a pattern we're working through. For parents, it's often something similarly small — a phrase to try, a moment to approach a little differently — offered as one more tool, not an assignment to get right. Whatever we try between sessions is meant to support the work, not add pressure to it.

It varies with what's brought you here and how the work unfolds — I hesitate to put a fixed timeline on something so individual. Some people or families find real movement in a focused number of sessions; others benefit from longer, steadier support. I check in regularly on how things are going so the process always feels purposeful, whether it's brief or ongoing.

Ending is something we arrive at together, not something I decide alone. Whether it's your own therapy or work we've done as a family, the signs tend to be similar — things feel more manageable, the tools feel like yours rather than something you're reaching for, and the urgency that brought you in has eased. We talk about it openly as we go, and often ease into it gradually rather than stopping all at once, so you leave feeling ready rather than just finished.