How does therapy help?

How does therapy work?Therapy can help you better manage your symptoms and triggers. It’s an opportunity to learn additional coping skills and new ways of dealing with situations. Therapy can offer problem-solving skills, provide support for processing difficult emotions and help you work through life changes.

Some specific skills therapy can provide are:

  • Soothing and Emotional regulation, including, but not limited to fear, shame, anger, jealousy, grief, and depression.
  • Coping skills to allow you to work through situations which typically cause anxiety, shutting down or avoidance.
  • Stress-management techniques for dealing with stress within your everyday life, such as with your job and family.
  • Problem solving skills to reduce stress in social situations or with public speaking.
  • Increasing self-compassion, self-confidence, and body image.
  • Improving communication, listening, conflict resolution and the ability to speak up for yourself in relationships.
  • Understanding your own skills, strengths, and positive qualities and learning to quiet your inner critic’s negative thoughts.
  • Finding a resolution to the issues that originally led you to therapy, such as having panic attacks or flashbacks.

There’s no perfect time to start therapy. If you are curious about the process, let’s chat and see if we would work well together. We can discuss any questions you have in a free 15 minute phone consultation.

What to expect on your first visit?

Your first therapy session has two main goals:

1. Assess your symptoms and history

In the first session, or intake, we assess how you are currently feeling and when your symptoms began. I’ll ask you about events in your life, family, childhood, and career. We will determine what types of therapy are right for you and what it will look like to apply these interventions in your daily life. I may provide you with actions or tasks to do outside of our therapy sessions, such as practicing a certain technique or reading a specific book. While this homework is optional, it’s important for you to take an active role in your healing and treatment.

2. Build a relationship

Starting with the intake appointment, I’ll ask you questions and you are welcome to ask your questions about this process. The quality of the client/therapist relationship determines the success of your overall therapy goals. The ‘therapeutic fit’ is the most accurate predictor of a positive, healthy outcome. Secondly is the hard work and effort you put in towards your goals. While every client/therapist relationship is unique, certain values and themes are true for all sessions, and you can expect the following:

  • You can expect to be treated with compassion, empathy, respect, and understanding.
  • You can expect to be presented with someone who is available to listen to you and listen to your interpretation of what you are currently experiencing.
  • You can expect to receive a knowledgeable clinician sharing scientifically backed techniques and information to enact positive changes in your life.
  • You can expect to arrive in a safe, supportive, and confidential space.
  • You can provide honest feedback about which strategies and techniques are and are not working for you.

I look forward to getting to know you and helping you reach your therapy goals.

Sarah Elaine Zimmerman, LCSW

Questions? Contact Me

Is therapy confidential?

As a general rule, all therapy sessions are confidential and private. Anything you discuss with your therapist will remain between the two of you, unless you request otherwise or in the case of a few exceptions. This is as per protection rules by law, which all therapists legally need to follow, and no information from the session can be disclosed without prior written consent from the client.

There are exceptions to this law however, and the therapist can disclose information from the session to legal authorities or appointed persons if any of the following are true:

  • The therapist suspects abuse or neglect to a child, dependent adult or an elderly person. Domestic abuse involving severe injuries caused by deadly weapons must be reported. These situations all require the therapist to notify law authorities immediately.
  • If the therapist suspects an individual has caused, or is threatening to cause severe bodily harm to another person, therapists are required to report it to the police.
  • If an individual intends to harm himself or herself, expressing to the therapist for example, plans for suicide. While the therapist will attempt to work through this in the therapy session, if the client does not agree to seek immediate help additional action may need to be taken to ensure the safety of the client.