What is Therapy?

Therapy can be confusing when you don't have an experience with it. Hopefully, this blog post can make it feel a little less daunting. Sometimes therapy and counselling are used interchangeably because they cover a lot of the same things.

Why choose therapy?

Therapy can help, it is as simple as that. People's struggles can feel like they wouldn't be suitable for therapy, but for the most part they are. For example, even chronic pain can be reduced through therapy. The common things that most therapists deal with are more mental, things like struggling with big emotions and changes. It can be helpful to talk things out, to figure out how you feel. Sometimes you might want some more practical solutions and skills. Therapy can do this for you. It can also help to process things that are sticking with you so that they don't feel so heavy to carry around.

What is therapy like?

Talking therapy is the main type of therapy, for mental health and psychological challenges, but that actually covers quite a lot of different styles. Most styles will involve you (as a client) sharing with a therapist, who will be focusing on you. Sessions would normally be 50 minutes but can be longer or shorter depending on the style of therapy and your needs.

In a session the goal is for you to explore your challenges and work together with the therapist. The therapist is there to support you and work with you. You should feel that they have your best interests, and you are safe. Some therapists will talk more than others in a session, but for the most part the client does a lot more of the talking.

The most important thing is finding the style that suits you because you need to be comfortable exploring your struggles with this person and being honest with them. sometimes this can be hard. Also certain types of therapy may work better for certain issues. The information is out there, google will be able to help, but a therapist should be able to advise you.

How long will I be in therapy?

There honestly is no concrete answer. Some people just need one session and some need a few months or even years. Some people decide that they want to come in and out of therapy as they need it. It all depends on how you feel. Most therapy will be consistent needing a set time every week and wanting 50 minutes committed to therapy within the session.

Some types of therapy will want you to assign time outside of sessions to your development. The more you put into therapy the more you will get out of it. A therapist is there to meet you halfway, and maybe guide you to your solutions, a good therapist will tailor the session to the client. The important thing to remember is it is individual journey and will look different from person to person.

What can I share?

Anything. The sessions are confidential, as long as everyone is safe your therapist should be keeping everything you say secure. There are some legal exceptions which would be explained to you when you sign the contract. The goal is to make sure that you have control over the information, you will be included in conversations around safety, to make sure that the best decision is being made. Another thing that people struggle with is if things don't feel right to share, maybe they feel silly or small, but it's ok to share. These are your sessions as long as you care about something so do we. Whatever you decide is important is.