Before initial interview in family therapy is a process bearing various critical and fragile characteristics. During this fragile period which entails an encounter immediately before the therapy process, the client who has applied to receive therapy is in a very important decision-making phase pertaining to their starting the therapy process and taking a risk. A client with positive prior experiences with therapy is able to start the therapy process, confident that they will benefit from it. However, a client without prior experience with therapy may experience ambivalent emotions going back and forth between their expectations from the therapy and their fears before making a final decision to start the therapy.

Clients generally act in favour of obtaining assistance from individuals in their close social circle while generating solutions to the problems they encounter. They resort to professional assistance only when with anxiety they reach a point where they cannot formulate a solution. In this process, clients without any prior experience with therapy fall into considerable anxiety with relation to such questions as to what extent a professional unknown to them can provide assistance to them in solving the current problem, how they will relate their problems to the therapist and whether the therapist will actually believe them or not.

During the application for therapy, every member of a family has different attitudes, expectations and motivations as regards their problems. Each family member has various explicit and implicit reasons to decide for therapy.

The present study covers the principles of importance with reference to the expectations of the consulting families from the therapy, suggestions for the period before the first session with the client, the information that needs to be collected and the decision as to the family member(s) that are required to participate in the therapy.