How Therapy Works
Before your first visit:
I will send you Intake and Informed Consent documents to review, complete, and sign. Once you submit these, I will provide you access to the telehealth platform we will be using for sessions. You will create an account and use this site/app to schedule and access your appointments.
Intake-Part One:
Our initial visit will begin with a review of the Intake and Informed Consent documents you had previously submitted, as well as my policies and procedures. You will have an opportunity to ask any questions you have!
We will then complete a mental health diagnostic assessment. This assessment includes questions about your current experience of mental health symptoms and how these are affecting your current functioning, your medical and mental health history, and other areas that will allow me to paint a more thorough picture of your current need for therapy.
A thorough intake and assessment typically take at least one or two visits to complete.
Intake-Part Two:
After we complete our intake and assessment, I will share diagnosis(es) and treatment recommendations, including any ancillary services I believe will enhance your treatment success. From here, we will begin to talk about your goals for therapy!
I walk you through a detailed goal-setting session to help us understand where you currently are with the accomplishment of your goals and where you would like to be. Establishing goals is an important part of your treatment- your goals inform the course of treatment and help me understand the best ways I can assist you.
Goal/treatment planning typically takes at least one session and can extend into subsequent sessions if needed.
Subsequent visits:
We finally get to work! I specialize in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and will teach you a CBT model that will inform the majority of our work together. While I will occasionally incorporate other modalities or strategies, we will mainly be focusing on how to manage your mind and your mental health with CBT skills.
I do not do ‘talk therapy’ (Think: an idle therapist nodding and saying ‘mhmm’ for the entirety of the session). I want you to really start understanding the deep-rooted patterns in your life that have gotten you results you are unsatisfied with, and how to start changing these. I provide clinical guidance that allows you to process these patterns in ways you may have not been able to before.
Therapeutic work can be uncomfortable from time to time. Please be prepared to step outside your comfort zone and PUT IN THE WORK…if you do, you will see the results you’re looking for!
At the end of each session, I will almost always offer homework as a way to practice the skills and concepts we discuss during our session in a concrete manner. Homework is optional, but I have noticed that my clients who decide to practice therapy skills in between sessions are the ones that make the most progress, the quickest!
Treatment Goal Review sessions:
On occasion and as needed, we will spend time revisiting your goals to identify progress and stagnation. This will allow us to identify what is and is not working for you, and to tweak treatment where needed.
Treatment goal review sessions are my favorite sessions. Most clients are shocked to see how far they’ve come in a relatively short period of time, and it’s so fun for me to get to watch this realization!
Termination session:
This is the session we’ve been working towards! My intent is to help you acquire the skills you need to feel capable of maintaining your improvements on your own without therapy. You can ALWAYS return to therapy if you need to in the future, but effective therapy allows you to function at your best while not being reliant on never-ending sessions.
During this bittersweet session, we review the achievement of your goals, discuss the skills you have in place to maintain your progress, and identify any additional resources/referrals needed to sustain the changes you’ve worked so hard to achieve.