Do you have any questions or hesitancy about setting up counseling? Let us fill in some blanks.
Therapy seeks to help individuals that have mental health struggles to learn how to manage their lives through understanding themselves. When we define how we became what we are, discover what we would like to be, and then become congruent with that self we thrive. Therapy hopes to help you heal from past trauma and help you realize that self.
Therapy creates a safe environment for you to share your life and allow a mental health professional to help you challenge some patterns and help create a narrative for your story. From there, you get to take control of that story and make it what you want it to be. Therapy hopes to help limit the barriers to you becoming who you want to become.
A therapist serves as a guide that will help you traverse the issues that you have in your life. Therapists are not the masters of the session as that role is designated to the client that has thr story to tell.
While both of these can help you depending on your needs, counseling is a more short term solution focused effort to manage your current problems. Psychotherpy is a longer term treatment for recurring problems. They both have a lot of overlap, and the important component is if the professional is a good fit for your mental health needs.
As a client in psychotherapy, you build a relationship with your therapist that ideally makes it a safe environment for you to be vulnerable and share part of your life so that they can help you recover from what has compromised your mental health.
A therapist usually employs talk therapy to help you navigate the issues that have compromised your mental health. A psychiatrist can also help you with that, but also has the skillset of diagnosing serious mental illness, and prescribing medication that can help. It depends on your needs.
During psychotherapy, the client and therapist have a conversation about what issues the client has and come up with a treatment plan to help figure out the best route in resolving those issues.
The length of the session depends on your therapist. Talk to them about how long to expect each session to be with the intake usually taking abit longer than the rest.
Evidence shows that the most effective therapy is utilized at LEAST once per week, with increased instances in early counseling being a more efficient delivery. You should expect to see your therapist at least once per week.
Therapy can range from free to $250 depending on the organization offering the services, the insurance involved, and whether the provider is a specialist. It’s hard to find free services, but they are out there.
Most insurance policies have a mental health component or have mental health offerings that can be added. The duration, and extent to that will depend on your individual plan. If you have insurance and don’t know what mental health offerings you have, reach out to your provider to see what is available to you.
Therapy IS expensive, but your mental wellness is worth it! There are organizations, insurances, and other means that can help you obtain affordable services. Search with in your local United Way directory to find out where you may be able to get more affordable services.
Reach out to the therapist and ask them what insurances they are providers for to see if yours is taken by them. Also check with your insuance provider to see if they have a directory of therapists that you can reach out to.
Early in therapy, your therapist will create a treatment plan with you to create a pathway to success. Upon going over that treatment plan with you, it will be understood what success in therapy will look like and when it will be time to discontinue.
Therapy may address issues that stem from childhood, major and minor traumatic experiences, relationships, family issues, the current social climate, and a host of other things that may be a reason that your mental health has been compromised.
Therapy sessions usually last from 45 minutes to an hour and a half depending on the type of services, the specialist, and the agreement that you have with your insurance or therapist.
