Getting the Most from Therapy
The following “guidelines” should help you with your counseling journey. They are meant to increase the return on your time, money, and emotional investment.
Show up and be willing to try new things.
Just in the act of showing up on a regular basis with the intent of finding healing for yourself, you will begin to witness positive movement in your life. I will be making suggestions to you that are meant to support you on your path. You are expected to take the suggestions, modify them as you see fit, and report back about the results. Communicate what worked for you and what didn’t. Some suggestions you will find more helpful than others, but if you are willing to try new ideas or exercises, you will discover new ways of being.
Have an appreciation for the process of therapy.
The amount of time it will take will depend on where you are starting and where you want to go on your journey. I often tell my clients that therapy can be a lot like cleaning out a closet—when you first begin the process, your space gets messy and a whole lot worse before it gets better. As you make connections, discoveries and changes, these will affect your perspective, your behavior, and your experience of current relationships. It is also important to understand that the greatest portion of the value of therapy will occur outside the time you spend with me. When you take the insights we find, the suggestions we make, and the shifts you have experienced out into the world and test them out, then come back to session to review the results, that is when the process of therapy is really working for you.
Be motivated and ready to make meaningful change.
This speaks to the points made above. It is my commitment to bring the highest integrity into the work I do with clients. For that reason, I choose clients who are serious, committed and motivated to make changes in themselves. Sometimes people come to therapy feeling listless, eaten up by hopelessness and low on energy. It is not necessary to begin this journey with your fuel tank full. As your guide, I will support you in finding fuel along the way. The motivation for lasting change means that you are dedicated to doing whatever you need to do to get where you want to go.