--- title: "How a first consultation with a psychologist goes" description: "What happens at a first consultation with a psychologist in Almaty and online: before the session, the first minutes, the main part and the outcome." url: https://manasiway.com/en/articles/first-session/ lang: en updated: 2026-09-28 tokens: 1297 --- # How a first consultation with a psychologist goes From what I have seen, people often put off a first consultation not because of the price but because they don't know what to expect: what is actually going to happen there? I'll take you through it step by step — the way it works in my practice. - Lyudmila Chernysheva, psychologist and hypnotherapist - Updated: September 28, 2026 ## Step by step ### Before the session You message me on WhatsApp or choose a service on the booking page. We agree on a time — I work around your schedule and time zone. Online sessions are paid in full when you book; the link arrives the day before. For an in-person session in Almaty you pay a 10,000 ₸ deposit when you book and the rest on the day. There is nothing to prepare: you don't need to arrive with the “right” way to describe what you want to work on or rehearse what you're going to say. ### The opening minutes We introduce ourselves and I briefly run through the rules: what is said in our sessions stays between us. The exceptions are a direct threat to life (yours or someone else's) and cases where the law requires disclosure. You can ask me any question about how I work. ### The main part You describe what is going on and what you have already tried — in your own words, at your own pace. I ask questions not to fill in a form but to see how the situation is put together: what sets it off, what keeps it going and why earlier attempts haven't worked. If there is something you would rather not talk about, you don't have to: you set the boundaries here. ### By the end of the session As a rule, by this point we have a rough map of the situation: what to work on first and what the next step will be. We set a goal that can be checked — not “become calmer” but observable signs: “I fall asleep within half an hour, without my phone”, “a conversation about money no longer ends in an argument”. ### Afterwards Whether to continue is your decision. There is no default “course of ten sessions”: how long the work goes on is something we discuss openly and regularly. ## Common questions ### How long is a session? An individual consultation lasts an hour (an extended one, two hours), a couple's session up to 120 minutes, a child's session 50 minutes. ### What if it is hard to talk, or I feel like crying? That is normal: you can pause, stay silent, cry — I will not rush you. ### What if it is about a child? Work with a child always starts with a meeting for the parents. You can also book this meeting on its own — if you need to talk about your child without their involvement. ### What stays confidential if the client is a child or a teenager? I tell parents about the dynamics, but I do not retell the content of the sessions. If a child's safety is at risk, I arrange appropriate help and act in accordance with the law, taking the child's safety into account when deciding what to disclose and to whom. ## The limits of this article This article is for information only: it does not replace a consultation or a doctor's help. - This is the author's explanation from practice, not a summary of research. If you feel very bad right now — in Kazakhstan call 112 or 103; free round-the-clock psychological help — 1303 (Almaty). If you would rather first understand how the work is set up — the consultation page has the format, the price and what happens at the first meeting. - [How a consultation works](https://manasiway.com/en/consultations/) - [Book a session](https://manasiway.com/en/booking/) ## See also - [Individual therapy](https://manasiway.com/en/consultations/) — how one-to-one work goes - [Booking](https://manasiway.com/en/booking/) — choose a format and book - [Prices](https://manasiway.com/en/prices/) — session cost and ways to pay - [Why sessions differ in length](https://manasiway.com/en/articles/session-length/) — An hour, two hours or fifty minutes — what lies behind each figure in the price list. - [Hypnotherapy: the research](https://manasiway.com/en/articles/hypnotherapy-evidence/) — Where the data is strong, where it is modest and where it is not enough — with links to the primary sources. - [What online tests measure](https://manasiway.com/en/articles/what-tests-measure/) — What the total score shows, how to read the result and when a test will not help. --- HTML version: https://manasiway.com/en/articles/first-session/ · Booking: https://manasiway.com/en/booking/ · WhatsApp: https://wa.me/77025360139 · Telegram: https://t.me/Lyudmila_manasiway