Therapy

Therapy can help improve symptoms of many mental health conditions. In therapy, people can learn to cope with symptoms that may not respond to treatment right away. Therapy as opposed to coaching (which is more on capacity building) is more towards problem solving and finding solutions. Research shows the benefits of therapy last longer than medication alone. Medication can reduce some symptoms of mental health conditions, but therapy teaches people skills to address many symptoms on their own with the advice and guidance of their medical doctors. These skills last after therapy ends.

Therapists are not medical doctors (i.e., people who diagnose and prescribe). Therapists work with doctors and other healthcare professionals where and when necessary to help individuals who struggle to find answers to their own problems. As therapists use a range of cognitive and behavioral techniques and use active listening as a strategic tool to listen and help clients deconstruct and breakdown their problems to find solutions, answers which are often hidden within themselves, the technique is unique in that the client is guided in a way that helps them gain control and agency over their own lives.

The therapeutic relationship between the client and therapist is an extremely rich emotional experience. Therapy is not meant to be used as a passive process where the client seeks advice and implements what the therapist says would be the right thing to do. It’s not a “you tell me what to do, and I will do it! Process”. Instead, it is about helping the client understand the unique ways in which they think, act, and behave that may impact their decisions and behaviors for better or worse!

Therapy is about:

• Helping you understand why some of the choices you’ve made in the past may not have worked out and why?
• It’s about digging deeper into the “Why?” to understand the way you think, feel, and behave and how they affect your decisions.
• It’s about learning to take agency and learning to trust yourself over time.
• It’s about identifying the blind spots you may or may not have known about. This is important because it helps you understand the role of these negative blind spots and how you can make better decisions in the present and future.