Journey into Therapy

The process of therapy can be mystifying. Before I started my own therapy journey, the image in my head of a therapy session was that I would be sitting across a professionally dressed, stern looking individual who was going to take down all that I was going to spill about my life onto a notepad.

There are many reasons why people start therapy:

• Some want to be proactive about their mental health and explore strategies to manage difficulties that can show up
• Some have been struggling with mental health concerns most of their life, haven’t been able to identify why they continue to struggle, and want a way out of these difficult experiences
• Some have recently experienced a life change and need support to understand how to manage these changes
• Some find patterns in their life that they want to break free from
• Some want more intimate relationships with themselves and with others…
  
  … the list goes on and on.

For myself, I started therapy at a time where I was experiencing a lot of changes. I was graduating from my Masters degree and looking for work, I had recently purchased a condo, and my relationship of 6 years had ended. I thought most of what I would address going into therapy was finding strategies to cope, what I ended up doing was unraveling my own inner world and finding myself. I discovered why I was deeply depressed and anxious about many things in my life (spoiler alert: it had to do with patterns of communication and relating to others that I learned from childhood experiences).

So, what does that mean for you when you’re starting your own therapy journey? Here are some things to consider:

• Before starting therapy: there is no right or wrong time to start therapy. There is also no right or wrong reason to start therapy.
• Look for a fit: research says that the most powerful thing about therapy is the therapeutic alliance (aka the therapy relationship). As much of therapy is about how we relate and communicate with others (or that is what I believe about it), it’s important to find a therapist you feel comfortable with and can share with in a genuine, authentic, and honest way. This doesn’t have to happen instantly. You’ll probably also want to see if their schedule/availability and price of services fit for you. It’s normal to take a few consultation calls to see if there’s someone you fit with. You can book a consultation with me, here.
• Ask the questions you might be keeping to yourself: therapy works when we’re ready to face the things we find hard to talk about with others. As a therapist I know you probably hold back on things you want to say. It’s important that you feel safe and respected with what you share with your therapist, and your therapist can support you better with understanding more about you. Also, by asking the questions you get to check out the things you want to understand in your therapy process.
• Things will take time: feeling rushed to see something work is a common experience. I get it, you have been dealing with these challenges and/or difficult feelings for quite a while and you really want to get some relief from it. A part of the process is allowing ourselves to get comfortable with the difficult feelings and learning to tolerate them with strategies to support helping us cope.

Still have more questions? Ask away! Feel free to contact me or ask me about the therapy process or book a free 15 minutes consultation phone call.