These are the top 5 ingredients you can expect from our therapeutic relationship.
Respect:
Mutual respect is key in sessions. I respect your pace, perspective of the world, your motivations, and feelings. You respect the therapeutic process, and the hard work that both parties are putting into the session. I respect your time and hard earned money that you are putting into the sessions, and you respect my time and schedule demands. We mutually respect each other’s boundaries.
Safety:
This is really important. Maybe even the most important aspect of sessions. Feeling safe in sessions with me, to express your feelings, to disagree, get angry, to cry and be vulnerable, face your own demons, knowing that I am there to help you, to push you, or hold you back as needed. One of my priorities is to create a holding environment for you, to contain and ground you when you stray too far from your comfort zone.
Honesty:
What do you do when you’re angry with me, when you’re disappointed, or feel uncomfortable about something after a session? TELL ME. We discuss these things openly. When you are hiding from yourself, I will gently confront you. When you are distracted in session and drift off, I will bring you back. If my interpretation of your discourse is untrue, you simply tell me in a respectful way. If you feel like our sessions are not helping you, or not meeting your needs, I want us to talk about it, and come up with an action plan. Together we learn that honest and forthright communication and even confrontation can deepen a relationship and make therapy a richer experience.
Fun:
You will often hear me make jokes in sessions to lighten the mood after a heavy moment. With clients that I have a deep and meaningful rapport with, joking around and even poking fun at each other is common in sessions. We develop a relationship similar to a friendship, but in a professional setting with professional boundaries. You will find that you will laugh quite a lot in therapy. As long as mutual respect and sensitivity to needs is met, having fun in therapy can be an integral part of healing.
Dedication:
Another immensely important point. Therapy is a serious commitment; emotionally, and financially. It is a journey not to be taken lightly, one of the most changing experiences you (and I) are likely to have. I take our sessions very seriously, prepare for them, think about the things we talk about and analyze them, write notes about them. If needed, on my own time, I will seek professional consultation if I believe it will help me to help you better. I attend trainings on issues you bring in to deepen my understanding of you. I put forth my all, and I expect the same from you. This means being on time to your sessions, keeping your appointments, reflecting on our sessions on your own time, and completing homework assignments that we both agree upon. In my years of experience I find that clients that put their back into it are the ones who reap the benefits.