What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a psychological approach for treating mental health issues by talking with a licenced, qualified and accredited psychotherapist.  During psychotherapy, you learn about your specific issues and how your thoughts, emotions and behaviours affect your moods. Psychotherapy helps you learn how to take control of your life and respond to challenging situations with healthy coping skills.

Psychotherapy can help treat most mental health issues, including:

• Resolve conflicts with your partner or someone else in your life.
• Relieve anxiety or stress due to work or other situations.
• Cope with major life changes, such as divorce, the death of a loved one or the loss of a job.
• Learn to manage unhealthy reactions, such as road rage or other aggressive behaviour.
• Come to terms with an ongoing or serious health issue, such as diabetes, cancer or long-term pain.
• Recover from physical or sexual abuse or witnessing violence.
• Cope with sexual problems, whether they're due to a physical or psychological cause.
• Sleep better if you have trouble getting to sleep or staying asleep.

      Your first therapy session

  At your first psychotherapy session, I will usually gather information about you and your needs. The first session is also an opportunity for you to interview me. You'll be able to see whether my approach and personality are going to work for you. I will make sure you understand:

  • What type of therapy will be used.
  • The goals of your treatment.
  • How long each session will be.
  • How many therapy sessions you may need.

     

    During psychotherapy

    I encourage you to talk about your thoughts and feelings and what's troubling you. Don't worry if you find it hard to open up about your feelings. I can help you gain more confidence and comfort as time goes on.

    After a session, I may ask you to do specific activities or practice what you learned. Over time, discussing your concerns can improve your mood and change the way you think and feel about yourself. It also can improve your ability to cope with problems.

    Confidentiality

    Except in rare cases, conversations with me are confidential. I may break confidentiality if there's an immediate threat to safety or when the law requires reporting concerns to authorities. I will talk to you in more detail about this during our first session and I will answer any questions you may have about confidentiality.