What do you mean by consultation? That word can be used to describe many different things?
Mental health professionals, such as psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, use the word consultation to describe the process of meeting with us for a particular purpose. A consultation can be a brief meeting or meetings at the beginning of the relationship in order to discuss the possibilities of working together. It can be a single meeting focused on a particular topic or issue or a series of ongoing meetings.
Often people use consultation to discuss a particular clinical case or issue that has arisen in clinical practice. It can also be used to explore an ethical question. Some people use consultation for a more pragmatic concerns such as seeking help with figuring out how to set up a billing system, set fees, or think about a licensing issue. In all these cases, the psychoanalyst or psychotherapist may raise deeper questions or facilitate a process that helps the consultee consider the dynamics within him or her or between him or her and others.
Non-clinicians also can use the services of a psychoanalyst or psychotherapist in consultation to explore a particular issue or to work more extensively and more deeply. Sometimes these kinds of non-clinicians seek the help of a psychoanalyst or psychotherapist to help them with the psychological underpinnings of a particular problem in business, the arts, politics, and the like. We can provide consultation services to boards, leaders, groups, and product developers where there are psychologically complex issues.
Often psychoanalysts and psychotherapists will offer a free short consultation (15 – 20 minutes) to help you see if you would like to schedule an appointment to work more formally. You can use these short free consultation sessions to ask questions about the consultation relationship and to explore how and if you feel this consultant can help you.
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