INDIVIDUAL THERAPY: ADULTS & ADOLESCENTS
I can see THROUGH you…
You want your therapist to think well of you AND be able to see through you.
Happily, both paths work well together, so I can legitimately help you instead of getting caught up in your stuck thinking that there’s no good way out of your troubles.
Individual therapy should feel way more helpful than just going out to lunch with a friend who is a good listener. Of course, you want a good listener, but you need more than that to create actual change. Friends mean well, but they can’t help you in the same way.
Plus, if a good listener is all you need, you should probably stick to going out for lunch. It’s cheaper, and you don’t have to work hard.
Doin’ the best you can
Individual therapy makes up the bulk of my practice. One of the assumptions I make about you in therapy is that you are doing the best you can.
I don’t know anyone who wakes up and decides that they’re going to have a panic attack, get incredibly frustrated, feel like banging their head against the wall, and then want to go hide under the bed and wallow in discouragement, embarrassment and pain.
This is not fun for anyone, and I know it’s not part of your master plan. You’re not having troubles because you’re weak or because you’re simply exaggerating life’s problems.
You really are doing your best …and you don’t know how to get things to go better.
I teach you, encourage you, cheerlead you, and help you troubleshoot. I help you learn how to hold yourself accountable so that change happens. I point out what you don’t see because you’re on the inside of the trouble, and I know how to see from the outside.
Learning to hold yourself accountable instead of letting yourself off the hook is a critical part of creating change instead of temporarily feeling better.
But this also means that in addition to me knowing that you’re doing your best right now, I also know that there are ways to do things differently so that you feel better and have more respect and caring for yourself. I know that seems unrealistic and perhaps impossible at the start.
It’s a relief to learn that you can both get yourself to do what is most effective AND be kinder to yourself at the same time. Individual therapy does that.
I see myself as a coach.
It’s like you’re in the water, drowning, and I’m the one who jumps in with you to teach you how to swim. I can’t swim for you.
But I can help you learn how, encourage you in your efforts, point out what’s getting in the way and help you discover your own best form.
So, therapy is sometimes like teaching you things you don’t know about how your brain works, how emotions work, how behavior works and how to get yourself to do stuff instead of avoiding it. And therapy is sometimes like being listened to, supported, cared for, important, nurtured and encouraged.
And sometimes it’s like a person who can see you for who you really are and love you for that. Sometimes that’s the most therapeutic, change-inspiring thing that can happen, because it builds a bridge to YOU seeing you for who you really are and loving yourself for it. Wouldn’t that be life-changing and incredible?!
Seriously, imagine how powerful you could be in your relationships, how much you could influence others and create change in the world once you learn to be YOU.
It’s realistic. It totally happens.
If you’re willing to do the work, you’ll see change happen.
Are you ready to commit? Are you ready to begin walking the path to the life you want?
Let’s get started. Quit waiting around. Therapy isn’t a luxury: it’s the way out of the mess you’re in. It’s a way to start taking responsibility for creating the change you need.