How Do I Know if Therapy is Working?
You’ve found someone - a Black Therapist in Durham, NC! You’ve attended a number of sessions and now you are reflecting and wondering if Christian Counseling with a Black Therapist is working for you. Last year I contributed to a lovely article on this very subject. One of my main takeaways from it was that we all have a different gauge in determining if something is working for us. So read the article and get some ideas of things to check in with yourself around, but also know that you may resonate with some tips more than others. If I could recommend a few checkpoints on determining if therapy is working for you these would be my top 3 tips for determining if your Black Therapist in Durham, NC is a great fit for you:
Don’t hesitate to give your therapist feedback!
Your therapist is a human! That means she makes mistakes, she gets it wrong just like she gets it right sometimes, and she needs feedback in order to be the best Black Therapist for you. Perhaps there is something she does that actually annoys you or just doesn’t work as well for you, tell her that. In the same way when she does something that you respond really well too, play that up. This will help her to know how to tailor your care to fit YOU. Want more of something? Speak up! Want less of something? Speak up! Therapy with me is always a collaboration. If you want a therapist that recognizes this and works hard to make sure that you are respected and valued for the expertise you bring to your therapeutic journey, then reach out to me to get started with Your Black Therapist for Moms in Durham, NC.
You are feeling uncomfortable and frustrated, so you think, “maybe I should take a break[read:quit]!”
Sometimes it really is time to move on or find someone different, but honestly, this feeling and gnawing of frustration can oftentimes be ripe material to discuss in therapy. Again, don’t be afraid to say this to your therapist - “I’ve been feeling really frustrated about sessions lately, and I’ve sometimes entertained the idea of taking a break.” This could be the edge of breaking through to whatever really needs to be brought into the therapy room. Therapy helps us practice in a safe space what’s going on in our real lives, so chances are it’s not merely uncomfortable or frustrating for no reason at all. Learn to talk about it and celebrate your emotional awareness and communication skills with respect to difficult subjects. When working with my clients, I respect their decision making and I am also a pretty direct, shoot-straight type of person, so sometimes I will invite feedback by saying, “you look super frustrated with me right now,” or “I’m wondering if I just pissed you off!” This is my way of opening the door to hard conversations because I want my clients to know that in Christian Counseling with me, they can be authentic and vulnerable and share hard things even when they think it may offend me as their provider. In fact, I love these moments because it is a safe place to practice having hard conversations without fearing the other party will walk away or abandon you. I celebrate my clients when they are this open with me. If my style sounds like it may work for you, Reach out today to get connected for therapy with a Black Therapist in Durham, NC.
You and your therapist are tracking your progress towards your goals!
this can be done in a number of different ways, but you and your therapist should be having regular conversations about how things are progressing, what goals have been met, and which ones need to be refreshed or transformed into a new goal. If you aren’t having these conversations with your therapist take the lead and tell them you want to talk about your therapy goals. Once you do this, you and your therapist can determine what progress is looking like and where the stuck places are. You can always refresh and do something different. Therapy is a process, I want you to trust the process with me, but I also want us to be active participants in the process and that means being intentional in goal setting and goal reviewing.
As I summarize a few of the checkpoints I’d recommend from the “How to Know if Therapy is working?” article, I can’t help but think how therapy is much like our spiritual walk with God. Your therapist is by no means the Almighty, however, I definitely see some overlaps in providing faith-based therapy. As you seek Christian Counseling in Durham, NC, the tips above can aid you in exploring if working with a Christian Therapist is for you but it can also enhance your relationship with God. For example, have you ever wanted to give God feedback? I’m sure we all do whether through our gratitude, fears, or frustrations. Which leads to the next point, telling God about your frustrations. Finally, the last parallel is keeping a track record of the faithfulness of God in your life. These points may seem like a random parallel, but they are not.
Imagine, being able to work with a faith-based therapist on reshaping your thoughts and behaviors in such a way that contributes to optimal mental wellness but also bears fruit on your spiritual journey. Just like you would keep track of your therapeutic goals while pursuing Christian counseling, that track record inevitably provides you with a list of things God has walked you through. I make this parallel because the integration of faith and mental health can be very productive when done skillfully and ethically. If this is something that is a key aspect of what you are looking for and you want a great fit Black, Christian therapist in Durham, NC who is willing to collaborate with you on your spiritual and mental health then reach out to me today.
And for more tips on how to know if things are going in the direction you’d like them to as you pursue Christian Counseling in Durham, NC, read the article I’ve been referencing where I was featured with UpJourney.
