The Therapeutic Experience
What to Expect at your first visit
In the initial visit, the client(s) will be completing paperwork and establishing Informed Consent. During the 50 minutes of that first visit, we will spend time getting to know one another, establish the reason behind the referral, and determine treatment goals. Depending on the reason for the visit, our first session will most likely be an informal question and answer period, concluding with determination of continued services. Time permitting, treatments and recommendations may be discussed.
Treatment Plan
Within the first few sessions, an informal ‘treatment plan’ will be established to help clarify needs of the client and target various goals. The treatment plan is created collaboratively and is updated as treatment progresses. The length of treatment varies, though common practices are weekly for 10-26 weeks. It is not uncommon for some individual to use therapy for a longer period of time.
Therapeutic Process
Until one experiences the healing benefits of therapeutic interactions, it is difficult to adequately describe how it is beneficial. Some clients offer these examples of how psychotherapy has helped:
- Sharing the Personal Voice – Telling personal stories to another unbiased, nonjudgmental person has its own healing effect.
- Affirming one’s existence – feeling supported and understood can be extremely powerful.
- Finding solutions – an objective, trained professional can look at situations and be a strong, healthy guide in finding choices and making critical decisions.
- Deepening a personal healing practice : – supporting and building upon practices that have known personal success (i.e. meditation, breathing, yoga, art, writing, exercise etc.) is another layer of therapeutic healing.
- Building self-esteem – discovering personal worth, purpose and value is an important part of the healing process.
- Exploring and letting go of past wounds – transforming painful experiences of the past into aspect of personal wisdom and strength, while a lofty goal, is often a part of the healing journey.
- Reducing conflict and stress – building coping skills, anger management skills, and interpersonal communication skills benefits both personal and professional life.