If you have never been to therapy or maybe you have been and felt it wasn’t that helpful, I have some ideas to help you get the most out of your therapy sessions. Some people believe that all you need to do to find healing is to just show up for your sessions and magically you will get better. Yes, making the concerted effort to get therapy and showing up is important, but that’s really just the start of the journey
Whenever I meet with a new client I always let them know if they want to make the most progress possible, its important to follow through with changes outside of the therapy room. I give “therapeutic homework” which could be following through to teach a skill I teach like breath work or to get moving with some exercise. Many clients like this because it does give them some accountability. I tell new clients the more they are engaged with the process and doing more to learn about ways to heal, practicing new things, engaging in healthy lifestyle actions like getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, journaling, taking time for self-care the more they increase the likelihood for improved outcomes with therapy. The more likely they are to reach their goals sooner.
Here are ways to get the most out of your sessions:
1. Be open minded, once we develop a relationship I may openly discuss certain behaviors and thoughts that may be hindering you from moving forward in life. My goal is to help you find new, more helpful ways of thinking and begin the process for changing behaviors that may also be self-sabotaging or not healthy for you. Sometimes just increasing that awareness of different thoughts, patterns of thinking or behaviors can help in the process toward change.
2. Keep a therapy/counseling journal. Nobody can remember every detail, thought, emotion or memory that happens between sessions. This could be a paper journal, your phone or laptop. Just tracking things you might want to talk about in therapy or triggers can be helpful to keep your sessions more focused.
3. It is not up to the Therapist to come up with the topic for each session, its up to you. Remember it is your session, not your Therapists! I may have some things to follow up on but I find that clients who have an idea of what they want to talk about and where they want to go helps to keep things on track. Some clients bring their therapy/counseling journal to session which helps provide some talking points especially for those who have trouble remembering things that might be trigger situations. Just note that if you had a particularly uneventful week know that its ok to mention that and remember you can always go back to some of the goals you have in therapy and decide which issue to address in the moment.
4. Take notes at the end of session or right after, this could be done in your therapy/counseling journal or just in your phone. It can help to note specific things that stood out to you or ideas that the Therapist presented that you want to remember. Notes can also be a place for you to write down your homework.
5. It can be helpful to determine when will you get your therapy homework done. Most homework I assign does not take a lot of time but it does take some planning. Write it in your schedule or create a reminder so you remember to get it done.
6. If you are uncomfortable with doing an intervention or are upset with something your Therapist has said to you, please speak up. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this in session then consider at least sending an email. I want communication open and would love to clarify anything that seems murky for you or you are unsure of. If you don’t want to continue with an intervention that’s ok too, my goal is to find the most helpful interventions that lead you to healing.
Coming to therapy does take a lot of guts, its never easy to face your fears or confront issues that are painful for you. Recognizing however that there are ways to get the most out of it instead of being passive is something to consider. If you would like to start therapy but have questions, the Therapists at Path to Hope Counseling are here to help. . We help young adults experiencing depression, anxiety, trauma recovery or grief! Please reach out for a free 20 minute consultation at pathtohopec@hushmail.com.
