How Long Does Therapy Take?

The time frame of therapy depends on several factors: the client’s presenting issues and concerns; perception, insight and understanding of therapy; and the client’s availability and willingness to do the work outside of the therapy office and make changes.
How often should I see my therapist?

Research suggests that you should see your therapist once per week and we highly recommend weekly sessions. If you see your therapist less frequently sometimes the experience can become a “check in” rather than a deep dive into permanent growth and change.

With most clients, Empower You Experts aim to be flexible and we will tailor the frequency of the work to meet your needs.

What is Therapy Like?

Therapy will be different depending on the individual, since each person has different issues and goals for therapy. In general, you can expect to discuss the current difficulties and events occurring in your life, your personal history relevant to your issue(s), and report progress (or any new insights gained) from previous therapy sessions. Depending on your specific needs, therapy can be short-term, for a specific problem, or longer-term, to deal with more challenging patterns or your desire for more personal development and/or to be heard. It is most common and recommended to schedule regular sessions with your therapist (usually weekly), to gain the most out of therapy.

It is important to understand that you will get more results from therapy if you actively participate in the process. The ultimate purpose of therapy is to help you bring what you learn in session back into your life. Therefore, beyond the work you do in therapy sessions, your therapist may suggest some things you can do outside of therapy to support your process- such as noting particular behaviors, patterns, thoughts, reading a pertinent book, journaling on specific topics, or taking action on your goals.

People seeking psychotherapy are ready to make positive changes in their lives, are open to new perspectives and take responsibility for their lives!

How Does Therapy Help Me?

Many people are uncomfortable with the topic of therapy and there is still some stigma about “needing help.” A common message of our culture (at least in the U.S.) is that we should feel “everything is great all the time.” Certainly, that message completely denies the universal human experience.

As much as we want to deny it, often it is hard to be imperfect, in other words- human.

In therapy you will learn all kinds of new skills about how to manage your relationship with yourself and others. We can also teach you strategies on how to work towards the courage to be imperfect, which helps one to have greater acceptance of oneself and others. These skills are very powerful and most of us do not have enough training from early on in life. After all, even if our parents are great parents, no one is a perfect parent, since we are all human, of course. Therapy is not about blame, nevertheless, it is about understanding and appreciating the unique, positive you.

Therapy is the most personalized training in the world and helps us to correct and/or work through what we did not receive growing up.

However, beyond skill-building and learning strategies there is an even more powerful benefit of therapy. The relationship with your therapist is unlike any relationship you have experienced. There is no other human relationship where you can reveal anything and be assured that you will be accepted. Empower You Experts therapists will not shame you, reject you or tease you. That itself is a healing experience. It allows you to have a feeling of safety and trust that is typically unique. When we allow ourselves to experience that trust we are strengthened. It allows our confidence to grow and our shame to soften. We then take that new sense of safety out into the complex world of relationships, work, and school and we find that we meet those challenges, and take those risks, with greater ease.

This is why it is so critical to have a valuable relationship with your therapist at Empower You Experts. In addition, an empathetic and effective therapist will make it easier for you to feel safer.

What about medication vs. psychotherapy?

It is justifiably established that the long-term solution to mental and emotional problems and the pain they cause cannot be solved solely by medication. Rather than just treating the symptom, therapy addresses the cause of your distress and the behavioral patterns that curb your progress. You can best achieve sustainable growth and a greater sense of well-being with an integrative approach to wellness. Working with your medical doctor or a psychiatrist you can determine what is best for you, and in some cases a combination of medication and therapy is the right course of action.