ABSTRACT
The ®rst session with a client is unlikely to be the ®rst contact unless the therapist is a trainee on placement with an assessor who allocates clients. There is therefore myriad information that has already been available through either telephone or email contact. Even where a student psychotherapist is allocated a client with a previously designated formulation, we strongly suggest that the novice therapist adopt an inquisitive stance with a sensitivity to how they are impacted in the ®rst session with the client. Hayley (1978) suggests that the beginning of a therapeutic relationship is likely to have an in¯uence on how it might end, pointing to the importance of clarifying presenting issues and re¯ecting on ways in which these might be resolved as well as how aspects of the presenting issues might manifest during the course of therapy.
