What Am I Like As A Therapist?

Some words that have been used to describe me as a therapist are authentic, collaborative, laid-back, honest, straightforward, understanding, empathetic, and humorous/sarcastic. If these are words that you would want to describe your therapist, keep reading.

The first session is a get to know you session. I’ll try my best to get to know you as a person and try to understand your situation. I also understand that some things take time to open up about and will not force you to talk about something that you are not comfortable talking about. I understand that this is the first session and trust takes time to build. I’ll also provide you the opportunity to ask any questions you have for me, regarding my therapeutic approach or treatment.

Therapy with me is collaborative, which means we will come up with the treatment plan goals together. I don’t want you to be wanting to work on one thing and I have a completely different idea in mind. Therapy would not be successful and you would not find it helpful if we do not work together. Because of the collaborative nature, if you are ever unhappy with your sessions or treatment, please bring it up to me and we can discuss what you dislike and are wanting from therapy.

I consider myself a laid-back therapist, meaning I let you lead the session. You can talk about whatever you want, whatever is on your mind. My reasoning behind this is if you have something on your mind and I come to session with a specific agenda that is different from what you want to talk about, you are not going to pay attention to me, you are going to be focusing on what you want to talk about. If you are struggling to come up with things to talk about, I have no problem asking questions to guide the conversation. There are no right or wrong topics or things to talk about. There’s not one size fits all to therapy. I also understand that you may need different things from your therapist from session to session and try to be flexible to accommodate. 

I believe that the therapeutic relationship is the most important thing in positive outcomes from therapy. Because of this, I make it a priority to continuously work on the relationship with all of my clients. I do this through displaying empathy, understanding, being my authentic self with humor, and providing honest, straightforward feedback. I understand that healing, growing, and wanting to become the best versions of ourselves are all extremely difficult things and being a part of someone’s healing and growing journey is not something I take lightly. I am honored to hold that safe space, be that listening ear, celebrate the wins, and everything in between for you. 

My goal for you is that I become someone you trust to confide in and you can appreciate the ways in which therapy can challenge you, heal you, and help you grow in ways you never thought possible. I want you to help you grow and realize the person you’ve always dreamed of becoming. It is possible and you can become that person!