When should I start seeing a therapist?

There is no wrong time to start therapy

You may be wondering…

“Is therapy right for me?”

“When should I start therapy?”

“Will therapy help me and what I am going through?”

Therapy is a process where the client and therapist come together – the therapist with their expertise and the client with their lived experiences and knowledge of themselves. It’s a unique relationship/ situation where the client invites an alternative perspective, creating a healthy support for themselves.  Thinking about starting therapy means that you may be noticing a few things in your life that you would like to change.

You may be noticing: 

• Persistent feelings of unhappiness, sadness, or discontent
• Feeling stuck or lost in life
• Desires to explore yourself, your identity and your relationships
• Difficulties with managing anxiety with healthy coping mechanisms
• Habits or patterns in your life that you want to change, but don’t know how to start
• Difficulties with understanding why you do things that cause you stress, harm, or hurt the people around you
• That your relationships are having problems in communication, understanding, or are surface level
• That a change in life is happening and you need support in processing complex emotions (getting married or divorced, having a child, starting college, starting a new job, etc.)
• That grief from the loss of a loved one is overwhelming you
• Reliving your past or feeling overwhelmed by the future
• Physical changes such as in sleep habits, in appetite, in how you socialize, in energy levels etc. 

“What goals do people normally focus on in therapy?”

People come to therapy for so many reasons – along the way, there is so much to gain that may surprise that person. 

You may come for:

• Healing from trauma
• Stress management
• “Fixing” your problems
• To stop a specific behavior (binging, restriction, avoidance, anger outbursts, substance use etc)

Through therapy you may receive:

• Greater understanding of emotions and resiliency in the face of emotional triggers
• Coping skills for emotions
• Awareness of negative thoughts and their impact on your self-esteem and how to challenge them 
• Better ways to handle conflict
• Improved communication
• Improved relationships
• Learning your self-worth and understanding your needs
• Better ability to establish boundaries with yourself and others 

Ask yourself the following questions to reflect on if you feel ready to start therapy:

• Am I coping as well as I would like to in life?
• Am I showing up in life the way I want to live?
• Have my friends/ family suggested I talk to a therapist?
• Do I feel ready to let go of unhealthy patterns and behaviors?
• What would my goals be in therapy?

Whenever you decide to start therapy, that is the right time for you. There is no wrong answer. If anything in this blog resonated with you, follow that intuition and reach out to a therapist for more information.