I have supportive friends and family members. Do I really need a therapist?
We are totally different from supportive friends and family members. Many people believe that the majority of what therapists do is provide a sympathetic ear and give good advice. However, licensed therapists are trained healthcare professionals that have passed state board exams and have completed thousands of hours of clinical training. We have learned research-based clinical techniques to help your brain learn and change the way that it interacts with the world. Through this process, we will help you come to your own conclusions about what is best for you.
How long will it take?
Therapy happens best when it happens once a week, especially as we are beginning to build a relationship with you. When you start feeling better, we may decide that it will be more helpful for you to attend therapy sessions once every other week, or even once per month. While everyone is different, most of our clients attend therapy sessions for at least three to six months. Many of our clients attend therapy sessions for over a year or more. Some clients check in with us every month indefinitely to continue self-exploration and maintain their general mental well being. We will collaborate with you to decide what is best for your specific situation.
What if I need medication?
Whether or not to take psychotropic medication is a decision that involves collaborating with your prescribing physician or nurse practitioner. While we will be happy to coordinate care with your medication prescriber, we do not prescribe medication at our practice.
How do I explain therapy to my child?
While we do not currently have any doctors on staff and would not want to misrepresent our level of training in any way, we find that a positive way to explain therapy to children is that they will be meeting with a “talking doctor.” These “doctors” are called therapists and they are different from doctors that attend to physical health and they do not give shots, test blood, or look inside your mouth, ears, eyes, etc. These “doctors” help us understand our thoughts and emotions better so that we can be less sad, angry, nervous, or afraid, and so that we can be happier, calmer, and have better relationships at school and at home. Some ways that therapists do this are by talking, playing, and doing art projects.
What if I need marriage or family therapy?
If you and your partner or you and your family would like to have therapy together, we would treat you as a whole. All members of the couple or family would attend therapy sessions together and we will utilize techniques specific to addressing the dynamics and challenges of couples or families. If any member of the couple or family would also like individual therapy, we will assign you a different therapist in addition to your couple’s or family therapist to have individual sessions with. We find that individual therapy can greatly enhance and accelerate the therapeutic process for couples and families.