How does therapy help?

Depending on your present situation and your reasons for seeking help, there are many benefits to therapy. If you are seeking diagnosis or treatment for a mental illness, therapy can help you better manage your symptoms, outbreaks, and triggers. It can also enhance coping skills and open your awareness to new ways of addressing situations you may not have been aware of before. Therapy can offer problem-solving skills, provide support, and help you work through life changes, allowing you to view your circumstances as a personal growth opportunity rather than a burden or obstacle.

Some specific skills therapy can provide are:

  • Emotional management, including, but not limited to, anger, jealousy, grief, and depression.
  • Coping mechanisms to allow you to work through situations that typically cause you anxiety, fear, or avoidance.
  • Stress-management techniques to apply in your everyday life, such as at work and at home.
  • Skills and techniques to help you better navigate relationships or to work through relationship troubles.
  • Problem-solving skills for you to enact when you encounter issues that may typically have caused you to shy away or back down, such as social situations or public speaking.
  • Improving self-love, self-confidence, and body image.
  • Improving communication, listening, and the ability to speak up for yourself.
  • Understanding your own skills, strengths, and positive attributes and learning to quiet your inner negative critique.
  • Finding a resolution to the issues that originally led you to therapy, such as having panic attacks or being unable to sleep.

While the decision to begin therapy is an individual choice, in many respects it may benefit everyone. There are a wide variety of reasons to begin therapy, ranging from diagnosed mental illnesses to help manage daily stress or a transitional period in your life. Your treatment plan will vary based on your individual circumstances.

What to expect on your first visit?

Your first therapy session has two main goals:

1. Assess your circumstances

We will take the first meeting to assess your current circumstances. While my areas of expertise may align with your reasons for seeking therapy, we will need to address specific issues unique to you and your current circumstances. From there, we will be better able to determine which type of therapy is appropriate for you, what it entails, and how it will fit into your day-to-day life. In addition, I may provide you with a series of actions to do outside of our therapy sessions, such as practice a certain technique, or read a specific book, as it is important you take on an active role in your healing.

2. Build a relationship

Our first session will be more like a two-way interview. I’ll get to know you, and you’ll get to know me. I will ask you questions to better understand your primary issues and concerns, as well as your history regarding other events in your life, family, childhood, and career. However, you are welcome to ask questions too. In order for therapy to be successful, it is imperative that we establish a client/therapist relationship that is supportive and honest. In fact, it is the nature – and the quality – of our relationship that will determine the success of your overall therapy goals. The success of the ‘meeting of the minds’ with your psychotherapist is the most accurate predictor of a positive, healthy outcome to the hard work you put in towards your happiness. As such, each client/therapist relationship will be unique, but certain values and themes are true for all sessions, and you can expect the following:

  • You can expect to be treated with compassion, empathy, respect, and understanding.
  • You can expect to be presented with someone who is available to listen to you and listen to your interpretation of what you are currently experiencing.
  • You can expect to receive knowledgeable and scientifically backed techniques and information to assist you in overcoming your mental health related struggles.
  • You can expect to arrive in a safe, supportive, and confidential space.
  • You can expect to receive real strategies and techniques you can use to enact positive changes on your life.

 

I look forward to getting to know you and helping you reach your therapy goals.

Please complete the following forms prior to your first therapy session.

Is therapy confidential?

As a general rule, all therapy sessions are confidential, and anything you discuss with your therapist will remain between the two of you, unless you request otherwise. This is in accordance with legal protection rules that all therapists must follow, and no information from the session may be disclosed without the client’s prior written consent.

There are exceptions to this law, however, and the therapist can disclose information from the session to legal authorities or appointed persons if any of the following are true:

  • The therapist suspects abuse of a child, a dependent adult, or an elder, or is made aware of domestic abuse. These situations all require the therapist to notify the appropriate law enforcement authorities immediately.
  • If the therapist suspects an individual has caused, or is threatening to cause, severe bodily harm to another person, therapists are required to report it to the police.
  • If an individual intends to harm themselves, expressing to the therapist, for example, plans for suicide. While the therapist will attempt to address this in the therapy session, if it appears unresolved or the client does not cooperate, additional action may be necessary to ensure the client’s safety.