What to Expect from Therapy

Getting results from therapy is something we at Choosing Health Counselling, are very passionate about! You’re seeking support for a reason and are looking for results.  One of the best ways to achieve those results is to be clear on what exactly you’re hoping to achieve.  This is why your initial sessions (and later sessions periodically down the road) should include a discussion around your hopes, expectations and goals for working with us.  

At Choosing Health Counselling we start every new client journey with our intake process. You will have the option to schedule a free consult call to ask any questions you may have and to find out if the therapist you’re meeting with has worked with the issues you’re facing before and how they can help. You also are invited to complete an intake form - while optional, this is a great way to share your personal history and information with your therapist ahead of time and to also share (or start formulating) your expectations and goals for therapy.

In general, we find there are typically three ways clients are seeking to work with their therapist:

• Talk Therapy

  
  Clients want a safe space to discuss what’s going on in their lives and receive care, support, non-judgemental feedback and possibly some perspective and helpful reframing.  

  There is an absolute benefit to working this way with a therapist.  It’s a release of all you’re carrying and allows you to vent, offload, process and reduce stress.  Evidence based research supports talk therapy as a highly beneficial practice for mental health.

  For clients looking for this type of support, we recommend individual psychotherapy sessions.

• Building Coping Skills

These clients want support with skill building. They’re looking for practical and effective tools to manage their emotions, stress, and struggles whether it be with emotional regulation, mindfulness, distress tolerance or interpersonal effectiveness.  

They want the skills to be able to self soothe, handle situations and challenges better, and to communicate and behave in ways that support their goals.

For these clients, I often recommend particular modalities such as CBT, DBT, and our DBT skills training group as a compliment to your individual therapy.

For Couples and Families, they’re looking for ways to rebuild trust and repair ruptures, foster communication skills and have tried and tested tools for navigating conflict. At Choosing Health Counselling, we use evidenced-based therapies (including Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy, and Internal Family Systems).

We also have a program specifically for couples and families going through separation and divorce to support all family members through this major life transition.

Our New Chapter Family Therapy Program provides individual support for all members, as well as co-parenting or couples therapy, and whole family therapy.

• Healing Therapy

Finally, there are some clients who find that despite the ongoing benefits of talk therapy, or their improved proficiency with the coping skills they have found success with to take on life’s challenges in a moment of stress or crisis, they may find they’re still experiencing underlying, persistent and/or chronic tension, anxiety, depression, or other symptoms.

For those clients we may recommend healing modalities aimed at addressing underlying past negative experiences, trauma and unprocessed emotions or patterns.  CPT (cognitive processing therapy), IFS (Internal Family Systems) & Parts therapy, Somatic Therapy, and EMDR are evidence based therapies shown to have the ability to heal PTSD, past trauma, and other causes of feeling “stuck” in therapy.

EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy), is an evidence-based therapy used to support clients to heal from past trauma, PTSD, and negative life experiences.

We wrote a blog post about EMDR in particular for those feeling stuck.  You can read it here: https://www.choosinghealth.ca/blog/feeling-stuck-in-therapy-our-psychotherapy-clinic-in-mississauga-can-help-with-an-alternative-to-talk-therapy-emdr

Next Step: Find your Therapist

We have developed a tool to help you in your search for the right therapist. Taking the opportunity to book a free consultation or inital session with a therapist is the best way to meet them, ask questions, learn more about their approaches, and most importantly start your journey to getting the results you want from therapy!