"Sam" is cheerful, friendly and encouraging. Her office is peaceful, comfortable and quiet. She offers you tea at the start of the session, I usually go with the no-caffeine camomile.
She shares anecdotes from her life with you, as a way of illustrating the message she is trying to convey.
She's not a clock watcher, so your session may run over the official time limit if your discussion is important. Bad news: you may have to wait 5-10 minutes for your appointment because Sam is giving the current client some extra time. Good news: Sam will give you extra time when you need it.
This counselor did not listen to our daughter's concerns, or to ours. After several sessions, she terminated our daughter without even speaking with us, leaving her feeling more despondent than before. We hooked up with a very good team at Kaiser, where our daughter receives weekly group sessions and individual ones of real benefit to her, though not as frequently as we would like. They suggested we report this psychologist to the state license board for inappropriate termination of a therapeutic relationship.