August 2021
🐰🐰 Stages of Therapy
"August is a gentle reminder for not doing a single thing from your new year resolution for seven months and not doing it for next five." ―Crestless Wave
“The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year, like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning. The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring, and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn, but the first week of August is motionless, and hot. It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons, and sunsets smeared with too much color.” – Natalie Babbitt
The only constant is change...
This Summer has given us the opportunity to reconnect with friends, to travel, and for many of us, to make progress toward and even realize personal goals that had been set aside while we patiently waited for the world to open up again. In the past few months we have celebrated so many of your accomplishments - engagements and weddings, new jobs, exams and practice exams, pregnancies, and many more positive things!
Getting back into a non-covid-crisis routine has also allowed us to resume working though some of the challenges that brought you to therapy in the first place. For many of you, this is your first time doing therapy. For others, therapy is a resource that you may have accessed as needed during different stages of your life. Whether this is your first therapy experience or you're seasoned, it's good to keep in mind that there are stages of the therapy process. A quick web search gives varied results but generally speaking there are 4 stages:
Phase 1: Orientation — Beginning to Build a Relationship with Your Therapist
Phase 2: Identification — Figuring Out What To Do
Phase 3: Exploration/Working Phase — Making Progress
Phase 4: Resolution — Saying Goodbye
Therapy is an individualized experience and looks a little different for everyone. Some therapy experiences are brief and target a specific topic or event, while others may last months or even years. Progress is not linear, and there may be weeks when our work seems slow and other weeks when you experience more challenges or discomfort as we touch on more sensitive things. Breakthroughs and successes are sprinkled in enough to reward hard work and keep us motivated to press on. It's important that we communicate through the process to be sure I am meeting your needs and you are seeing progress toward your goals. This gives us the opportunity to make adjustments as needed.
"How do I know it's time to end therapy?"
Terminating therapy is a stage, not an event. As we work through events or themes and you begin to internalize new thought patterns and coping skills, you may find that you have less to talk about in session. You may realize you no longer feel upset or challenged by certain past experiences, or can more easily handle stress as it happens. You may have met specific goals that you set when you started therapy. Maybe you realize as you prepare for session that you're just summarizing your week and don't really feel the need for feedback, or maybe you're interested in talking with someone different for a different approach. This is a normal part of the therapy process. Termination can sometimes feel complicated because it also means ending a relationship, and therapy relationships can grow close over time.
If you recognize some of the termination-stage thoughts or are thinking it might be time to consider ending therapy, let's talk about it. Typically a month is a good amount of time for us to work through termination activities - reviewing progress, wrapping up any unresolved issues, making sure your skills and routine are anchored, and putting plans in place for continued support if needed. One of the nice things about BetterHelp is you have the option to return if you choose to in the future; when you end your subscription you are given the choice of remaining assigned to me if you come back or closing out and being assigned to someone different if you re-start your subscription in the future.
And for those not quite ready to think about termination - now is a good time for us to consider any adjustments to goals for 2021. We'll soon be surrounded by pumpkin spice everything(!), and holiday advertising will not be too far behind. Funny how 2020 seemed to last a decade, and 2021 is moving along with a quickness! I'm excited for the plans you have shared with me, and I'm looking forward to chilly days and autumn activities! Please be mindful of health and safety, and continue to mask up in spaces where you're interacting with folks outside of your usual bubble. While things have opened up, we're not in the clear yet and will need to be careful to avoid covid numbers surging again.
Weird & fun August holidays: (http://holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/august.htm)
Some of my favorites:
August 1 Friendship Day
August 1 International Forgiveness Day
August 13 Falls on a Friday this year, and it's the only Friday the 13th in 2021. Interesting history about Friday the 13th: https://www.almanac.com/why-friday-13th-unlucky-origin-friday-13th#
August 15 Relaxation Day
I am grateful to be a part of your journey. Please let me know if there is anything I can be doing to support you.
For more information on the therapy process - and credit for the information above:
https://www.talkspace.com/blog/4-phases-will-encounter-making-progress-therapy/
https://screening.mhanational.org/content/how-does-therapy-work-what-expect/
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/two-takes-depression/201301/what-expect-in-psychotherapy
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/therapy/ending-therapy
https://welldoing.org/article/my-client-who-struggling-therapy
