A talk therapy session can be vital to maintaining your mental health. Regular sessions are a great way to get started, but it’s also essential to determine whether you are actively progressing with your therapist. It’s vital to assess whether you’re actively going with your therapist, even if you feel like it is slow and steady.
Firstly, Asha Tarry, a psychotherapist, author, life coach, and mental health advocate, emphasizes that as a new therapy client, you should know “absolutely why” you are there – whether it’s for a relationship or work issue, anxiety, or depression, grief or anything else.
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If your new therapist isn’t helping you feel comfortable and confident after three to four sessions, you should give them this time before evaluating their effectiveness. It’s important to ask yourself a series of questions to find out if the therapist matches your needs.
Tarry says any therapist’s most essential quality is listening to you and acknowledging that they are listening. She said, “She suggests clients express some of that in those first three to four sessions since they are paying for service – they deserve to be heard and remembered.”
Tracking Your Progress
It can be hard to see your progress even when your therapist listens to you. Tarry suggests keeping a journal to track weekly goals and sessions’ progress. Your therapist can also answer questions you might forget to ask during a session.
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Jill Daino, a licensed Talkspace therapist, points out that often, therapy is “not a linear process.” She said, “When you think you aren’t getting the most out of therapy, she notes, “but it’s important to look at the overall process. Ask yourself if you’re meeting your goals, symptoms, and concerns that brought you to therapy, and if so, have things changed?”
When you and your therapist aren’t a good match, Daino says, it can be beneficial to ask your current therapist how to proceed since “they have to get to know you and can make recommendations about your next therapist.”