Learn 5 Tips To Get The Most Out Of Mental Health Therapy
Wondering how to get the most out of mental health therapy? This is a very common question and you aren’t alone!. Here are five tips you can use to get the most out of your mental health therapy.
You can Be straight up with your therapist and ask questions
Therapists want to hear your questions, thoughts, or concerns. We typically have an idea of what you’re thinking and the direction you are heading but we don’t always know about the finer details. If you have questions, concerns, or even think things aren’t going well it’s OK (and encouraged) to voice what you’re experiencing. Usually, once a therapist knows something needs to be addressed we can problem solve together. More often than not, these discussion lead to great sessions and can be invaluable to your healing.
You should “click” with your therapists pretty quickly
There is a difference between mental health therapy being hard, awkward, or strange versus your relationship with your therapist being hard, awkward, or strange. Though it might take longer, you should be able to tell if you and your therapist will click after a few sessions. If you have been with a therapist for a number of sessions and things aren’t clicking, you might consider letting your therapist know and seeing if you can work through the issue or maybe interview other therapists to get a better feel for how they conduct their sessions. The reality is there are many great therapists out there but they might not be a great fit for every person. I highly recommend interviewing a few therapists before you start.
Find someone you trust to talk with about your therapy journey
This is a personal preference and might not be right for everyone, but I find it beneficial to talk to a select few individuals about what I am working on and experiencing in therapy. I don’t always go into detail about the content, but feeling as though I am working on myself parallel to other people opens new avenues of discussion and normalizes my own experiences. Don’t have someone you feel you can trust with your therapy content? Try looking for support groups that cover similar issues to the ones you are working on. A great resource to find groups is the Mental Health America website.
Don’t worry if you aren’t sure what to say
I have clients who sometimes tell me that they aren’t sure what to say or what to work on when they walk through the door. This is totally ok and very normal. Sometimes, I feel this way as a client with my therapist, too, and your therapist will be able to guide you through this. Some of my best sessions as a therapist and a client have been working on what was present right in the moment versus preplanning a topic. There is nothing wrong with simply picking up where you left off last session, either.
We’ve seen and heard everything and can handle your worst moments.
Sometimes, after a session that unveils a client’s shame or embarrassment I hear, “I don’t know how you listen to this stuff all day.” The reality is therapists don’t see clients 40 hours a week so we don’t hear it all day long. But, I get the point. Most therapists have built in mechanisms cope and process with the content we might experience during your journey. For example, I meet with my therapist regularly and meet with a group of therapists for peer discussion on a monthly basis. What helps the most, however, is that I feel proud of the hard work the people I see accomplish and believe being present during their difficult situation(s) is healing, which makes it all worth it.