My own Therapy experience

I’ve been in therapy for various issues for nearly 4 years.  This has allowed me to navigate the change from student to professional, improved my quality of life and increased my ability to reflect on my experiences.  Your treatment goals may take far less time to accomplish.  

This wasn’t my first experience with therapy.  Over a decade ago, I did see a therapist for about 3 months.  I needed to engage in therapy for permission to be placed on a Hormone Replacement Therapy program. (This requirement has changed to an informed consent model since then, which has made it easier to access.) The thing was, I wasn’t ready to confront the things I needed to in order to grow as a person and my therapist wasn’t a good fit for me.  I only stayed because there weren’t many other choices and I didn’t know you could fire a therapist.  

Therapists hold so much for our clients that it’s easy to forget to check in with ourselves and therapy lets us do that so we can continue to provide therapy in a healthy way to others. I once had a professor who once told me that “every good therapist has their own therapist” and that stuck with me, so I keep going, even when I don’t want to because I know that it helps me.    

Since my first experience with therapy wasn’t great, I make it a point to let my clients know that they can fire me, they can stop therapy at any time and that they don’t have to settle for someone who isn’t a good fit for them. 

#therapist #therapy #mentalhealth #journey