How long should I expect to be in therapy?
Most people I work with tend to stay for long-term psychotherapy which extends beyond a year.
The therapeutic experience is different for everyone.
It is out of the ordinary for someone to come for a just a few sessions and feel that they are done exploring their inner and outer landscape. We do deep work that requires time to get to where you are wanting to be.
This exploration reveals truth and insight leading you to understand more deeply what already exists and what needs greater attention. While creating space for an open future that aligns more closely with how you imagine it to be and embraces the ambiguity that naturally comes with not knowing.
Finding a therapist that you feel comfortable with and that understands you is invaluable. This relationship is sacred and meaningful. It isn’t uncommon for clients to find a therapist and stay with them for years. There is something profound in having a relationship such as this one; as you evolve, they remember where you were, and how far you’ve come. As we grow our inner world is full of visible transformation.
How important is the therapeutic relationship?
The therapeutic relationship is a tool used in therapy. We use the here-and-now experience in session to tune into how you experience your life outside of session. A lot of how you are with me is indicative of how you are out there with others. When I have recognized something in my experience of you, I bring attention to this insight or feeling to provide you with integral feedback. This is part of the therapeutic process.
All human beings behave in ways that are unknown to oneself. When I bring attention to what I’ve noticed it is something that I experienced of you and reflected upon. These vulnerable moments are the cornerstone for growth and change for all parties involved. When we choose to communicate about the things that we feel may be too hard to talk about, something within us shifts. We evolve as people when we confront our inner and outer landscapes.
I am looking for advice, is this the right place?
I am not here to tell you what to do with your life. I am here to assist you in discovering what you want to do with your life.
What do we talk about in therapy?
The things you choose to discuss are meaningful starting points and we explore this lived terrain together through a back and forth dialogul movement.
If I bring something to discuss in session, I am always aware that we may not discuss this at all. I know that whatever you brought in whether consciously or unconsciously is where we ultimately depart from. We begin from where you are, how you arrive.
You share the details of your everyday lived experience.
I do not provide an intensive questionnaire for you to fill out regarding your familial history. It is important that you feel safe and comfortable to share specific information with me. The experiences you’ve had over a lifetime, including childhood tend to show themselves when we dig deeper into the matter at hand.
When you tell me about something within your life, a question may arise that ultimately gives me insight into how something in your life was or is for you. Such as your childhood, parental influences, or present interpersonal relationships at work and home.
The way we remember something is very telling. If you bring something to me, it was brought for a reason. Even if what you said wasn’t what you meant to bring into session today.
The things that we do not want to focus on are sometimes the things we should focus on. Especially when doing a focusing exercise.
You don’t have to talk about anything you don’t feel comfortable talking about. It takes time to build trust and you don’t have to share anything with me until you feel comfortable doing so. If I ask a question that leads somewhere you weren’t ready to go yet, just let me know and we won’t go there.
What if I do not have a formal diagnosis and I need to talk with someone about the things going on in my life?
Psychotherapy isn’t just for people who have already been diagnosed with a mental disorder. Therapy is for sorting out the things that happen in our life over time and in the present moment. We all need to talk with someone else about what we are experiencing to help us make authentic choices that align with our best interest, to navigate relational terrain both within your entire social sphere, and to connect more with how you feel about a given circumstance. Having a psychotherapist to process your life with allows for you to live authentically and with more freedom.
While working together I may provide you with a formal diagnosis for your own knowledge and or to submit to your insurance on your superbill. Insurance companies require a formal diagnosis to deem the psychotherapeutic services eligible for reimbursement.
I see you first as an individual, a human being. Your diagnosis may be helpful in describing and understanding what you are experiencing everyday but it is not who you are.
How often should I come to therapy?
It is required that we see each other at least once per week for psychotherapeutic work to be most effective.
Depending on your current situation you may opt to come in more than once per week if I feel it is clinically appropriate.
Over the years I have worked with many people twice per week and found their psychotherapeutic treatment to be most effective. The stretch of time between one day or two feels much different then 7 days and especially 14 days. Having two sessions per week grants us the time to explore more deeply the dimensions of your inner and outer landscape. Giving us a chance to understand where you are with all you’ve been through, where your going, and where you currently reside. We are complex beings and having the extra space to venture through it transforms those who experience the process.
People who have benefited deeply from attending twice weekly:
- Those who want to improve the quality of their interpersonal relational sphere both in work and at home.
- Those cultivating their voice on their own or in their field whether through writing, art, music, technology, or another medium.
- Those who suffer from bouts of depression, feelings of groundlessness/ feeling unstable, suicidal ideation
- Those going through major life transitions such as a death in the family, loss of a loved one, a divorce, a breakup, a job loss, new job, relocating to Washington, starting a business, having a child, raising a child, working from home
- Greif over who we were versus who we are now
- Greif over what will never be had
- Space to talk about the hard truths of life (human finitude, loss of others, etc.)
- Those diagnosed with Major depression, bipolar, ADHD/ADD, anxiety, and others.
- create new structures and routines that work for what you need
- Those who are trying to figure out what they really want to do with their lives and or how they can make it happen.
- Those who experience death anxiety
Should I consider group therapy if I am already in individual therapy?
Often people find it therapeutically rewarding to enroll in a therapy group in conjunction with their individual therapy. This enhances the therapeutic experience because we are inherently social beings.
We pay attention to what is going on in the here-and-now relationship as it presents itself within the space between us. The group dynamic reveals our way of relating in the world outside of the group. By bringing attention to how we are being with each other. The group becomes a microcosm for healing relational wounds.
I feel that my suffering is necessary in order to produce my art. If I come to therapy for the things that cause me to suffer will it prevent me from creating my best work?
Working through the things that clutter your mind that prevent you from living your most creative life will give you the clarity needed to put your ideas into fruition. When you no longer consume yourself with negative inner dialect you can give yourself the space you need in order to create your best work.
What are some ways that therapy may help me out of a creative block?
Creative blocks are part of the creative process. These ruts are often felt as despair, helplessness, and self-doubt. Often this is when people begin to question their own purpose, meaning, and direction in life. When we no longer incorporate our passions into our day-to-day experiences we begin to feel as though we have lost a part of ourselves.
It is with courage and within vulnerability our authentic raw truths reveal themselves. What you are most passionate about unveils itself. By bringing attention to your everyday life and the felt experience at hand we unravel all the parts that contribute to your current situatedness. In this we uncover meaningful passages within dialogue that never go unheard. This experience held within the therapeutic encounter elicits insight, illuminates new ideas, ignites self-realization, and leads to moments of self-discovery. It is in the very talk of the thing that brings out the matter of things.
