Assessment Before Intervention. Always.

I keep seeing Facebook ads about how to get couples to return after the first session. Usually some version of sell them on the treatment plan.

What treatment plan? We've just met them.

If I walked into a doctor's office and the physician immediately said, "I have your shot ready for you," that would be strange.

The logic of these ads is seductive: move fast, show confidence, establish momentum. But intervening before understanding the relationship usually says more about the therapist’s anxiety than clinical confidence, and couples can feel it.

A thorough assessment is what gives a couple confidence that we understand their situation and have a plan worth following. Assessment isn't delaying the work. It is the work.