Allow yourself time before and after a session, to gather your thoughts and feelings before you start and to consider what’s been discussed afterwards.

If you travel to a face to face meeting then the journey can offer that transition. It is helpful if you can arrive five minutes before the session. Take those few minutes before your session to consider where you want to start, what you need from today’s session. Do you need to talk about what happened this morning or to pick up form where you left the last session.Try leaving your phone in your pocket, once you’ve put it on silent.

It is different doing it online or over the phone when you don’t have the physical journey but the principle is the same.

Make yourself comfortable: go to the toilet, get a drink, whatever you need. You may want tissues by your side. Find a space, preferably a room, where you can shut the door and be on your own. If you need to, tell people you’re on a call for an hour and not available. Close the door, sit down, let go of the outside world and consider what’s going on in your head and what you might like to talk about. Take a few deep slow breaths if that feels right to you.

If home isn’t private then can you sit in a car to talk?

Equally give yourself a bit of time after the session to process what has happened: you may wish to write things down, reflect on what was said or left unsaid, feel the emotions that have been brought up in the session.