FAQs
What is Therapy?
I've never been in therapy before....What should I expect??
How long do I have to go to therapy?
Is therapy right for me?
The goal of therapy is to have a safe place to open up, explore what you need help with and develop a better understanding of yourself and how to develop tools so you can deal with life a little easier. It won’t always be fun, comfortable or easy. Sometimes getting to the better place means powering through the yucky place. At times you will leave therapy feeling not so great and other times you will feel super energized and motivated. Therapy takes work and all of these emotions are part of the process to help you get to a place where you feel confident and able to manage challenges when they arise. You won’t be laying back on a couch talking about your repressed memories from childhood…..unless that’s what is currently negatively impacting your life!
Hopefully some of the questions on this website have helped you answer this, but if not, the answer is YES! I strongly believe everyone can benefit from therapy. Think about it this way…can learning more about yourself, how your mind works, and how to better cope with tough situations NOT be useful? I often hear people talk about not believing therapy is necessary unless you are severely impacted by mental health. This is absolutely untrue. Therapy is for anyone who wants to grow internally and externally. It can help you gain clarity to what you want out of life and what’s been keeping you from getting there.
The idea of therapy is often very scary to people, even if they’ve done it before! You come in and tell a stranger things that often you don’t mention to your closest friends. It can seem overwhelming and awkward at first…and that is totally OKAY! It’s normal to take some time to adjust to the process and build a trusting relationship. My job is to help ease this process as much as possible and create an environment that helps facilitate this. If over time you notice you still aren’t comfortable or feeling a good connection, let’s talk about it. It’s the same as building relationships in the “real” world….you don’t click with everyone you meet! That is completely normal. I would rather refer you to someone who may be a better fit, than have you quit therapy with a bad taste in your mouth. Therapy is an investment in many ways, it has to work for you and having a good connection is a huge part of this.
There is no right or wrong answer to this, except….as long as you feel it is helping. You are free to discontinue therapy at any time. However, this should be something we discuss and together determine is what is best long-term. Generally the time needed varies from person to person and the motivating factor that brought them to therapy. Life changes, so good and bad events can change the trajectory of therapy. In general, session are weekly unless determined differently in the Intake. This allows us to get to know each other and I can build a thorough understanding of the goals you want to work on. This also helps us build the trust that is necessary to help you achieve these goals. Once you feel you are coping well and feel more confident in managing those ups and downs on your own, we will try every other week. Then if that goes well, we will move to once a month or every few months as a way to check in, stay accountable, and refresh any skills that may need refreshing!