Is this you?
- Are anxiety, depression or other overwhelming emotions causing you distress?
- Do old fears and patterns get in the way of satisfying relationships and a fulfilling life?
- Are you stuck, overwhelmed or unclear about your next steps?
- Do your life challenges feel like more than you can handle?
- Are you having difficulty coping with a major life transition or loss?
Let’s face it
Life doesn’t always play fair. Sometimes it dishes up more than we can handle. Problems add up, they hurt, and sometimes they overwhelm us. Sometimes we suffer major losses, like a loved one, a job, or our health. Or we experience an event that deeply shakes the foundations of our being. Even natural processes, like aging, can cause confusion, worry, depression, sadness, anxiety, and loss of self confidence.
Think about it. Do you know anyone who has not encountered any of these situations? We’ve all been there at one time or another. At times like these the help of a compassionate and skilled therapist can enable you to weather the storm and find new life affirming steps for living forward.
What is Therapy?
People have many misconceptions about therapy. At one end of the spectrum, some people think psychotherapy means lying on a couch revealing all to a silent, pipe smoking psychoanalyst like Sigmund Freud. At the other end of the spectrum, others think that therapy is nothing more than sharing stories with a supportive friend, and wonder why they should pay someone for that! Neither of these is the case.
Therapy is a professional helping relationship between the client and a therapist who is trained in methods for helping the client to reach his or her therapeutic goals. Your therapist holds your best interests as paramount. She will help you to define your therapeutic goals and develop a customized plan of treatment to fit your specific needs. A therapist is bound by a professional code of ethics and regulatory norms that protect your confidentiality and other interests.
Your therapist will not judge you or push you faster than you feel ready to go. Your therapy process will proceed in a collaborative, intentional manner that moves you in the direction of healing, happiness and greater meaning in life. Her purpose and intention is to open the potential for growth that already exists within you.
What are the benefits of therapy?
Therapy can help you move:
- From anxiety and distress to calmness and centeredness
- From depression to equanimity
- From confusion to clarity
- From isolation to connection
- From overwhelmed to coping and resilience
What should you expect during your first visit?
In our first session we will get to know one another, discuss your situation, and determine your goals for therapy. In most cases, I will ask you to complete a questionnaire to bring with you to our first meeting. This allows you to do some advance thinking and lets me learn more about you and what you are facing. Collaboratively we will clarify what you are seeking from our work together. What do you want to achieve? How do you want to feel as a result of our work together? Of course, these goals may shift or be refined as our work together progresses, but it is helpful to establish a realistic target at the outset.
How often will we meet?
The length of therapy varies from person to person and issue to issue. Generally it is best to start with weekly visits so that you can gain momentum in your work. I may give you some “homework” to work on between sessions to continue your growth. Ultimately you decide how long you wish to continue. By clearly delineating your specific goals for our work together, we can assess when you have reached them. At that point you may wish to work on additional goals or conclude your therapy. Many clients return to therapy after a break because they want to work through other issues to achieve even more healing and wholeness for themselves. My commitment is to stay with you as long as I deem that I am being helpful. If I feel I cannot help you, I will tell you and provide referrals when possible.
Will you feel better right away?
It is likely that you will feel some relief after each session, but therapy is not only about finding temporary relief. It is about finding deep healing of the underlying causes of your symptoms. It also is about learning new perspectives, skills and behaviors that will increase your ability to have a life worth living. A major goal of therapy is to give you the ability to bear uncomfortable emotions and to move toward your goals regardless of self-defeating emotional impulses and thoughts.
It is not uncommon for clients to feel some level of emotional discomfort at times during the therapeutic process. For instance, some discomfort can arise as change begins and you experience resistance to letting go of patterns of thinking or old habits. Your feedback at these times is very important. These times are opportunities to learn new perspectives, skills and behaviors to work through these challenging feelings and achieve your ultimate therapeutic goals.You may not “feel better” in the first instance, but you will find that important positive changes will happen over time.
What is your role as a client?
You are expected to take active responsibility for your own healing process. My role is to help you gain new awareness, perspectives and skills and to support you in taking new life actions that carry you towards a more meaningful, satisfying life. I can help you to become more self aware of self-defeating thoughts and patterns and help you to develop and practice new behaviors that work. But in the final analysis you are the one who must take action. After all, it’s your life and I want you to have the most fulfilling life possible.
To facilitate this process, you will commit to show up for appointments as scheduled, share honestly, and make your best efforts to do any exercises that I may ask you to do between sessions. You will provide feedback on what is working or not working for you so that we can adjust our approach as needed. You will be a partner in our collaborative work together.
Must we meet in person?
No. I offer therapy to Colorado residents by telephone or secure online audiovisual platform. It is generally important to meet in person for your early therapy sessions and periodically during the more advanced stages of the process. Face-to-face is ideal, given that so much of communication is non-verbal and it helps in building rapport initially. Based on my experience, however, these same benefits can be had when working by telephone and even more so in an online audio-visual platform.
Therapy by telephone or via online audio-visual platform is becoming more common and professionally accepted. The online experience can provide a very focused, intimate and safe environment for confidential communications and allows the client to save the cost and time of travel as well as enjoy a session in the comfort and privacy of his or her own home or office. There is nothing “remote” about so-called remote sessions. One of my clients had this to say about telephonic sessions:
I was concerned at first that conducting the sessions over the phone wouldn’t provide the intimacy needed to be honest, but it was surprisingly comfortable, perhaps even more so since I was in my own home for each of the sessions. Nicole C.
What can you expect from your therapy experience with me?
Let some of my former clients share their experiences with you:
“Our discussions have helped me to discover many new possibilities of impacting both my perception of and understanding of my limits. Your ability to reveal the inner sense within our consciousness has had a great impact on my decision making process. Thank you for your attention and time you have given me.” –Olga R.
“Many times I found that my emotions clouded my judgment and it was nice to work through those emotions to a viable solution. I am pleased with the personal insight I gained”. –Michael L.
“I felt lifted internally, psychologically, and emotionally. Actually realizing that I had the opportunity to change situations under my control was enlightening and empowering.”–Maria D.
“Aside from being an adept professional, you seem to be a great person.” D.S.
How can you set up a therapy appointment?
If you feel ready to proceed, you can schedule a 60 minute appointment at a time that is convenient for you using my online scheduler. If you prefer, you may email me at Susan@SusanLennox.com or call me at 617-967-0798 for an appointment.
Generally it is good to schedule one appointment per week at least in the early stages of your process. As you make progress on your goals, you may find that less frequent sessions are sufficient to keep you moving forward.
Whether you choose to meet in person, by telephone or online, you are in complete control of the process. You may stop or take a break from our sessions at any time.
Want to Know More Before You Decide?
If you would like to get to know me, see if we are a good match, or ask questions about how I work and whether therapy or another process is best for you, you are welcome to schedule a free initial consultation here. I look forward to speaking with you and supporting you on your journey of healing and growth.
