The top 6 truths about counseling, therapy, psychotherapy, and coaching in Windsor, California

What can I know is true about therapy?

Ok. You’ve found the match for you, the therapist you feel like you can do the work with in Windsor, CA. You’ve prepped yourself and have read about the myths. As you foray into treatment with this counselor in Sonoma County, allowing that wine may just not be enough alone, you wonder what is true about therapy. What can you know before you go into session for the first time? What are the assurances you can take with you when you start on this journey?

Truth: Therapy helps.

This both feels intuitive and not intuitive. Therapy does help. Part of you may want to say, “Seriously. I just go in and talk, and I get better?”. Yeah. It does work that way. We can dive into how having a witness who repeats what you are saying can create insight or how a professional will ask questions that make you think about what you’re saying, but all you need to know is you’re not dropping words into a void, there is someone there with you whose job it is to occasionally drop in to support your healing.

Truth: Therapy is for everyone.

It may be easy to tell your friend who cannot seem to get out of bed after her last breakup that he may benefit from talking to someone. When it comes to your struggling to make decisions or finding that you aren’t experiencing pleasure the way you use to, well, that feels more nuanced and uncertain. The intensity of what you’re feeling is not the threshold for seeking therapy. If there are things that don’t feel right to you, counseling will help.

Truth: You are in control.

The idea of sitting in a room with a stranger who is going to bully you into sharing your darkest secrets is completely off the mark. You get to control when and how you share. There is no pressure to go places you are not willing. In fact, you can state in any therapy session that you do not want to talk about anything and your counselor will put it down with you.

Truth: Sometimes counseling does make things worse before it gets better.

You walk into your garage and pull the dusty stuff off the shelves to rearrange and purge, it’s going to look worse before it gets better, right? In therapy, there are things that are talked about that you don’t share with anyone else. While your counselor will try to help you to repack what you pull out and give you strategies to support yourself if you do struggle, there will likely be stuff that comes up after you leave session. Having a week that was harder than the weeks that lead you to therapy does not mean that therapy is not helping.

Truth: Counseling will help you make decisions about how you want to live your life.

Finding and articulating what you want is core to the work that you will do with a therapist. Your counselor’s work is not to tell you what you desire, it is to help you identify your desires. Your therapist will help you recognize and express what you want. We all have our own path to happiness, your work is to find your own.

Truth: Sometimes you won’t like what your therapist says to you.

Ok. You know that you are in charge of the pace of the process in therapy, that you determine what your path to happiness, and that talking with a counselor will help. The less sexy truth is that the path to finding happiness and empowerment means looking at some things that are not fun to look at. There will be a moment where reflecting on your thoughts and behaviors will make you feel bad. That moment is baseline. The idea is that change starts then.

The absolute truth is that counseling will help, even if there are moments when you are feeling worse. I hope this mini exploration helped you to continue building clarity on what to expect when seeing a counselor in Sonoma County. If this taste on the truths of therapy left a craving for a little more, please reach out to me at 707.593.6333 for a free consultation. If you connect to my words and potentially working with me feels good, and you are looking to for support for building healthy relationships, including the relationship with yourself, click here to learn more about my services in Windsor, California.