Individual Therapy
Therapy is not just about feelings.
“How do you feel?” Some people think that this is all a therapist asks.
Well, those people are partially right. As a therapist, I do ask how clients feel. However, we also explore, process, learn, and teach way more than just conversing about feelings.
It turns out that some people don’t want to pay attention to their feelings. They are either scared of how they feel or ignore and avoid their feelings. In contrast, some are very intuitive and aware of their feelings.
Feelings are feelings, and they are part of you. If you like it, feel it, say it, avoid it, or run from it, you are expressing your feelings.
Therapy is about your “Me time!”
Although you live your life among people, you have personal needs, wants, passions, boundaries, goals, and dreams. It would help if you expressed all these internal desires that are unique to you. In the therapy process, you can have this time to focus on yourself with the goal of self-fulfillment and growth.
It is called “Individual Therapy” for a good reason. Therapy is about you receiving a healthy, healing, and rewarding way to have time for yourself.
It’s about providing you with a safe space for learning and owning your space in your life, a space just for you.
Better to bend than break.
Strong trees have deep roots that secure them to the ground, where they receive nutrients for growth.
Their trunks are wide, their branches and leaves touch skyward, and their inner cores are firm.
Unlike weak trees that break during storms, strong trees keep standing. They may have lost some branches and leaves, but their roots and trunks are firmly in place.
People are like trees, with an inner, true self, as well as a false self. During life’s storms, some break, whereas others bend and feel hurt but are still standing because their inner self (the trunk) withstands the storm.
However, when the trunk is battered, even strong trees need support. Like the tree, we need support when our false selves created a feeling or a reality of being lost and broken.
Therapy is about you.
Individual sessions are all about you. They are about what you need/want to share, work on, learn, practice, change, and keep.
While working together, you will find more of yourself, including what is true and false. That discovery depends on where you are currently and what you are ready to accomplish.
You may say: “I know who I am, and the problem is not me but the other person or the situation.” That can be very true, but the work will be about you – not the other person or situation.
Why? Because the only person you can help is you. You are the only one who can change the situation. Yes, you don’t live in a vacuum, and it may be an interpersonal issue, a financial issue, or many other things that involve other people.
However, you should look within first, because this is where your growth opportunities are endless. You can’t change anyone but yourself and only if you are willing to do the work.
It’s about awareness of the inner self.
Part of the work in therapy is to become aware of your inner self, so you can learn to acknowledge the beauty within you and to work on making changes and grow where you need and want to grow.
Life’s storms can make you feel you are not fully connected and lost. But you are not broken. You may feel broken, and I know that feeling, but you can heal.
Some injuries will heal, and some will leave deep scars. But you can learn not just to survive, but thrive with the scares and the pain. However, like the tree’s trunk, your inner self remains strong.
Growth takes time and willingness.
You may need time, maybe lots of time. I think this is healthy to take the time that you need to heal as long as you are willing to not give up on yourself.
It can feel like you are giving up, and it can feel hopeless and helpless. It is real for you when you feel like this. But your inner core can be rebuilt, even if it is bent and broken in some areas.
Like that tree, you can create new roots and plant new seeds that will help you grow to who you truly are.
This is not magic, and this growth takes work. But you deserve to feel good, value yourself, and thrive rather than survive.
My mission is to help you grow in safety.
You deserve a safe space where you can be vulnerable and allow yourself time to be open. The most important thing in treatment is the relationship that is built between you and me.
I can have all the experiences and the degrees that one can have; but if you don’t feel safe and connected with me, then we are not going to move far.
Of course, it will take some time to feel connected and comfortable because we are strangers in the beginning. However, it is an essential part of your growth and the therapeutic process to feel safe, connected, and open to bring yourself as you are with all that is going on for you to your “me time” in session.
Remember, you are not the problem!
You may ask me: “So if I am not the problem, who is?” Narrative Therapy suggests that the problem is the problem.
It can be beneficial when you know your issues and your struggles because knowledge is power. But you can do better and heal if you don’t attach those issues to who you are.
In our sessions together, you will learn to externalize problems from your identity. It is not about running away or becoming numb to pain. It is about choosing healthier tools that help you learn to cope in a positive way.
These are the tools that help you say “no” when you want to say no; compromise and listen to others; create the space between the impulse and an action; respond versus reacting; respect your boundaries; and accept and forgive yourself and others.
Time to create a new story.
It starts with letting go of your old story and creating a new story that provides strength to your inner self.
It is about learning to accept that you can bend and even break, but you can also heal and recover.
During our work together, you will truly see it, feel it, experience it, and get so many other benefits. All you need to do is show up.
I will be here with you and meet you where you are.
