How Does Therapy Actually Work?

When you first take a discovery call, we try to explain a bit about how therapy works. But we can discuss only so much in a 15 mins conversation, especially when we have other topics to discuss as well. 

So we are taking some time to provide as much common details as possible for you, as a client, to understand the process of therapy or counselling. We will be using therapy as a broad term to mean both psychotherapy and counselling. 

The first session

In the first ever session we start with understanding what’s your current situation like, and what motivated you to consider therapy. Here, we try to keep the discussion broad to understand not just your concerns but also how other areas of your life are doing. This is a low pressure session and not necessarily finding solutions. This is consciously to avoid rushing you and genuinely have a holistic picture of your life.

Goal setting

Once we know where we are at present. We work on setting goals for the therapy process. Usually therapy goals are a part of the individual’s life goals. Though at times people do not have well defined life goals, so we start with identifying 1-2 things a person wishes to have in the long term in different areas of life such as career, relationships, self, money, etc.

This process of understanding exploring, and goal setting can take somewhere around 1-3 sessions. Usually 1 session is enough but at times, individuals have much to share and need more immediate emotional support alongside future oriented support.

Action plan and implementation

Once our goals are defined, we work on the goals one at a time. We only take up one goal at once to avoid overwhelm and possible burnout. For each goal, we identify why the goal is not being achieved, and the changes that need to happen.

With the changes in mind, we identify what we need to learn, relearn or unlearn on behavioural, thought, or skill level. This can mean changing your actions, changing how you think, or learning new skills.

For each goal, the structure seems similar but the details keep changing. Once we achieve one goal, we review the progress and take some time off from regular sessions. It helps you to truly process the change and get used to it before we work on a new goal.

This process can be done until all your therapy goals are achieved. But if an individual wishes, they can pause or end the therapy process at any time. We understand life happens and we don’t always the bandwidth for continuous work on our mental health, or even life.

Termination

Therapy process can be terminated either by client or the therapist. Clients have full autonomy to end the process at any give point. Therapists can terminate in situations where they believe another more experienced professional can support the client better, or if the client has not seen any progress with the therapist.

At entwined wellbeing, we believe in client and therapist safety both. In rare occasions, we also terminate therapy process if the client becomes abusive towards the therapist. 

If this sounds like something you would like to try, book a free consultation with us here https://cal.com/entwined-wellbeing/discovery-call 🩷