An initial consultation is not a test. It is a first conversation — time to see whether the fit is right.
People often arrive to a first session carrying two things at once: the story that brought them, and a quieter worry about how to begin. Where do you sit? How much should you say? Is it already too much, or not enough? The first fifty minutes are not a performance. They are a first conversation, held with enough structure that you do not have to invent the room yourself.
At Deni Therapy an initial consultation lasts fifty minutes, in West London or online. The fee is seventy pounds. There is no obligation to continue. That last sentence matters. Therapy asks for a particular kind of honesty, and honesty is easier when you know you can leave without having signed anything invisible.
We usually begin with what is most alive. It might be anxiety that will not settle, a grief that has nowhere to go, a relationship that keeps repeating itself, or a simple sense that you have lost the thread of your own life. You do not need a tidy diagnosis. You need enough safety to say what is true today.
I will ask some practical questions — about sleep, support, previous therapy, anything that helps me understand the ground you are standing on. I will also leave space. Silence is not a failure in this work. Sometimes the most important sentence arrives after a pause that would feel awkward anywhere else.
By the end of the hour we should both have a sense of whether we can work together. Fit is not chemistry in the romantic sense. It is whether you feel met rather than managed; whether my way of listening leaves you more able to hear yourself. If the fit is not right, that is useful information. I would rather you find someone who can walk with you than continue out of politeness.
If we do continue, we agree a rhythm. Most people meet weekly. Some prefer twice weekly at the start, or fortnightly later on. Short-term work might be six to twelve sessions for a focused concern. Longer work unfolds over months or years when the issues are older, more complex, or simply want more room. We review as we go. Nothing is set in stone except the frame that keeps the work safe: time, confidentiality, and a pace you can keep.
You may speak. You may sit. Later, if it belongs, we might work with sandplay or with the body. None of that is required in the first hour. The first hour is for arriving — and for discovering that you do not have to carry everything alone.
If you would like to begin, write, call, or send a WhatsApp. I reply personally, usually within a couple of working days. We will find a time, and then we will see.
