Question 1

WHAT IS THERAPY

Accepted Answer

Open Heart Space Therapy can help you identify and strengthen your positive qualities, provide support during a transition, help you understand and break negative patterns, help you gain perspective on a situation, solve a problem or heal from emotional wounds or upsetting experiences. Therapy can also help you understand yourself better and become more conscious of how your history, perceptions, feelings, attitudes and behavior patterns influence how you relate to others and move through the world. Therapy can help you understand yourself better, grow as an individual and within the context of your relationships.

Question 2

HOW DO I KNOW IF I NEED THERAPY OR WHEN I SHOULD SEE A THERAPIST?

Accepted Answer

A good indicator that you might want to begin therapy is when you’re having difficulties in your relationships, at work, having a hard time concentrating, if you feel unhappy more days than not, if you cannot sleep, have a hard time figuring out what is important in your life, or just cannot manage daily stress anymore. If you are currently questioning if you should seek counseling or therapy, that is probably the best indicator that you may want to try it and see if the support of a therapist is helpful. Everyone can benefit from counseling or therapy. Some begin therapy for more insight into themselves and the world around them. Others may be experiencing difficulties at work, in relationships, having issues with concentration, are feeling unhappy more often than feeling happy, are not sleeping well, unable to figure out what is important in life or cannot manage daily stress. If you are experiencing any of these things, you may want to give therapy a try. You may find that the support of a therapist is beneficial to you. If you are committed to making personal changes for greater life satisfaction, then you are ready for therapy.

Question 3

I'VE NEVER BEEN TO THERAPY. WHAT SHOULD I EXPECT?

Accepted Answer

It is totally understandable that your first therapy session may be scarier than the problem that is causing you to seek therapy. The first session starts with you and your therapist getting familiar with each and building a comfortable and trusting space together. Your therapist will explain confidentiality and that most everything that is discussed in counseling is confidential. You are protected by strict rules that prohibit discussing anything that goes on in session or even that you are coming to counseling. There are some very specific exceptions to this rule, which will be discussed in the first session as well. Your therapist will want to get to know you and what brought you to therapy, so you can identify where you are and what are some goals or things you’d like to work on together. Your therapist will gently ask you some open ended questions and give you some reflections, observations, feedback and a summary of what you said. You may be encouraged to look at things from a different perspective. The intention is for you to feel heard, understood and the work in session is done collaboratively with your therapist.

Question 4

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF GOING TO THERAPY + WHAT CAN I EXPECT TO ACHIEVE?

Accepted Answer

There are many benefits to engaging in therapy! Including gaining a better understanding and insight of yourself, identifying your personal values and what’s important to you, improving your personal relationships–intimate, friendships and work– identifying and developing coping skills, enhancing problem-solving abilities, making positive changes to problem behaviors, and boosting self-esteem. Your therapist will have an unbiased and objective perspective to situations, relationships and events in your life.  Your therapist will work with you throughout this process and offer new insights to challenges that you have been struggling with. The benefit that you obtain will ultimately depend on how committed you are to the work together both in and outside of sessions.

Question 5

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF GOING TO THERAPY + WHAT CAN I EXPECT TO ACHIEVE?

Accepted Answer

There are many benefits to engaging in therapy! Including gaining a better understanding and insight of yourself, identifying your personal values and what’s important to you, improving your personal relationships–intimate, friendships and work– identifying and developing coping skills, enhancing problem-solving abilities, making positive changes to problem behaviors, and boosting self-esteem. Your therapist will have an unbiased and objective perspective to situations, relationships and events in your life.  Your therapist will work with you throughout this process and offer new insights to challenges that you have been struggling with. The benefit that you obtain will ultimately depend on how committed you are to the work together both in and outside of sessions.

Question 6

HOW LONG DOES THERAPY USUALLY TAKE?

Accepted Answer

There is no specific time frame when working on personal development and growth. It depends on the type of changes that you are looking to make and the variety of issues that you are attempting to work on.   Some find therapy to be extremely beneficial and choose to make it a long-term process — part of their overall self-care. Some people start feeling better right away after just a few sessions. The number of sessions depends on your goals, your history, the type of problem, the quality of the client-therpaist relationship, and your ability to engage in the process during session and out of the session. Most clients schedule weekly appointments and some, if they are in the midst of a crisis, come in two times a week. We recommend committing to weekly appointments for two months to establish a trusting relationship with your therapist, build the rapport that facilitates the change process and begin to notice shifts in your life.  We will review your goals and treatment on an ongoing basis to assess frequency of sessions and progress towards your therapeutic goals.

Question 7

DO YOU OFFER IN-PERSON OR TELEHEALTH SESSIONS?

Accepted Answer

I provide remote therapy via secure, HIPPA-compliant telehealth sessions.