Therapy, what IS IT??
A solution? A process? A beginning? An end?
More than anything, it’s a middle. You know where you’ve been, and you might have an idea of where you want to go, but you’re stuck in the now- “the middle”.
Therapy is a relationship:
Between you and me.
Between you and all of the parts of yourself.
You show up thinking, “okay, I’m supposed to share my problems with this person, and she’s going to tell me how to fix these problems and help me understand myself. But does she really have the magic elixir? If there was a magic fix to all of this, wouldn’t it be written in a book that I could buy for $10”?
Nope!
The short version: Therapy requires you to interact with all of the parts of yourself and make sense of yourself within the context of the institutions, relationships, and roles you exist in. That’s highly personalized, and can’t be molded into a one size fits all approach.
Therapy is a space where we repair and shift.
We can’t fix the past, but we can change how you feel about it and how you operate in the future. We can ACTUALLY change your brain by using brain-based therapies (like EMDR) and ego state work (also known as “parts work” and “Internal Family Systems”). We can replace negative cognitions; we can repair attachment wounds. We can write a new story.
This is deep work.
I know coming to therapy can be scary.
BELIEVE ME, I’ve been there.
When I was just a baby therapist, my mentor told me “Jess, if you want to be a therapist, you have to go to therapy and see what it feels like to be the one sitting on the couch”. She was right, but DAMN, was I nervous.
I went to a little office at the top of a big skyscraper in lower Manhattan and sat on the couch. I sure wasn’t prepared for the incredible path it set me on. I’ve never made a better decision because that decision led me to so many MORE amazing decisions, ones that unlocked fulfilling relationships, high self-esteem, and a huge, amazing community of joy makers.
Therapy has been a transformative process for me, and I hope it can be for you too.
