You can expect someone who is interested in listening to your concerns and in helping you develop a better understanding of them so that you may deal with them more easily and effectively. Your counselor will take you seriously and be willing to openly discuss anything you wish to discuss. Your counselor will be willing to answer some questions about herself or himself directly and honestly. Because counselors have different beliefs about how people change, they differ on how much talking they do in sessions, whether they ask you to do “homework,” and their focus of discussion. If you have any questions about what is going on, by all means ask. Counselors have no “magical” skills or knowledge, and will be unable to solve your problems directly for you. Your counselor will want to work with you, but won’t do for you what you are capable of doing for yourself. Except under unusual circumstances, your counselor will maintain strict confidentiality about you as required by laws and ethical guidelines, and will openly discuss this with you in the first session.