How can therapy help me?

Grief, anxiety, self-esteem, relationship issues, stress, trauma, depression are some of the most common reasons people come to therapy. To develop healthy ways to cope and build emotional regulation skills. Whatever your reason, you might find yourself asking what difference it will make, talking to someone else about how you feel, when you feel so alone with your difficulties. People often convince themselves that their problems aren’t that bad, someone else has got bigger problems than them, talking to someone else isn’t going to change anything.

The idea of coming to therapy can feel daunting at first, sharing your innermost fears and thoughts with someone you don’t know. Therapy can also feel liberating and empowering, taking a step towards feeling heard and understood. The relationship you have with your therapist isn’t like any other relationship. Your therapist is there for you, listening to how you feel, to hear you – not to compare it to their own experience as soon as you have finished talking or to dismiss or distract you from what you have said to try to cheer you up.

Therapists aren’t perfect, they are human, they have experienced their own struggles and their own therapy to help them see themselves differently.

Therapy isn’t just about what happens during your sessions, it is about how you feel after the sessions, in between sessions, how it enables you to see yourself from a different perspective. It provides a space for you to talk and be heard, to simply be you without judgement. Time to reflect on your sessions can really help you become aware of what you want to change in your life, how you want things to be, who you want to be.

We live very busy lives, with a lot of noise around us from notifications, alarms, traffic, other people, but also the noise in our own heads. The way we talk about ourselves makes a big difference to how we feel. If we wake up every day and look at our reflection in the mirror and feel disappointed, it can impact our mood and how we interact with others. If our internal dialogue is that things will never change, it can feel impossibly difficult to step out of that cycle, to break away from what we have always believed to be true. It can feel easier to stick with what we know, remain comfortable with the uncomfortable elements of our lives as taking a step towards change feels too much, too overwhelming.

Change isn’t easy or quick, but think about what your life could look like if change could happen for you. If you could step away from those negative thoughts in your head, think about yourself and others differently, what could life look like then?