what is therapy like?

As a therapist, a common message I hear from clients in their first sessions is that they don’t know what a therapy session with a mental health counselor will be like, or do not know what to expect. Clients can expect their therapist to ask questions in a compassionate, collaborative, nonjudgmental space that allows them to explore and communicate their thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and experiences. 

For many people, their only exposure to therapy may be a media portrayal of someone lying on a couch, talking about their life story while the therapist intensely writes in a notebook. At one point, I also shared these uncertainties regarding therapy. 

do therapists go to therapy?

In my first years of graduate school, I was taking on new responsibilities and had personal events that made my life feel overwhelming. I was studying psychology, but I had never experienced therapy before. I decided to enter therapy as a client for the first time. Before my first session, I remember feeling nervous and uncertain. I wondered how I would be able to sit in a room with someone I don’t know and share the challenges in my life. 

how does therapy make you feel?

What I experienced was a space where I could safely talk about what was going on in my life. I felt heard. I felt supported. I learned more about myself. In that room, the therapist and I worked together to create strategies to help me manage one of the most stressful times of my life. Therapists help us set goals and develop tools that can be used for a lifetime to manage anxiety and overwhelm, or integrate with other treatments to address difficult symptoms of our mental health challenges. 

core elements of therapy

Therapists work from different theoretical frameworks. Similarly, clients may need support in a wide range of different areas in therapy. This means that the tools and strategies that each therapist uses may vary from person to person. Despite a wide-range of approaches and types of therapy, many approaches share common elements:

• Creating a safe, supportive, and confidential space
• Building the trust between therapist and client
• Exploration of experiences
• Collaboration between therapist and client
• Setting goals to work towards

Therapy is ultimately a collaborative journey that often involves self-exploration, growth, and change as clients navigate a wide variety of concerns. My goal is to create an empathetic and collaborative therapy space for clients to explore themselves, their relationships to others, and their relationship to the world around them.

If you are thinking of beginning your own journey in therapy, we at Lifeologie Counseling Ada, Michigan can help support you. Please reach out to connect with me at our office or call (616) 929-0248. Lifeologie Counseling has skilled clinicians in several states that can help you start the process and continue to demystify the process of therapy for your mental health.