Individual Therapy

Individual Therapy, or individual counseling, is the process of meeting with a trained psychotherapist one on one to address things that are getting in the way of living the life you want. At Be Kind Counseling, we meet with our clients on a weekly basis for 50-minute long sessions. During the first session, we ask our clients what brought them in, and provide a safe, supportive space for them to tell us their stories.

During the first few weeks of individual counseling, we are really focused on understanding our clients and helping them understand themselves. We want to know about their relationships and experiences, and how these things have informed the way that they approach their relationships and their worlds now. We work with our clients to develop this framework for understanding who they are and how they got here, and once we have this established, we work with our clients to understand the patterns they have developed.

With the help of their therapist, our clients are able to connect the dots and to better recognize why they have made the choices they have made, and how their experiences have shaped them. Through individual counseling and meeting with a professional one on one, our clients are able to have support while they consider the ways they have coped in the past, and develop more helpful coping skills.

Once our clients have this framework established, they are able to consider what is working for them and what it is they want to change. Given that they are making these decisions based on their newfound understandings, clients are able to consider these changes with compassion and intention. Our therapists then support our clients in creating the changes they want, so that they may approach their lives and be effective and empowered.

The first few weeks of therapy are spent outlining what prompted you to decide it was time to get some help, and to identify the goals you have for therapy. We discuss your current challenges and what has been getting in your way.

Once you have outlined some of your current and past challenges, your therapist will then begin to help you connect the dots so you can see your unhelpful patterns, and will provide you with techniques and skills to use while you begin to create the changes you want in your relationships, in your career, and within you. Our clients report feeling more empowered, communicating more effectively in their relationships, knowing which steps they want to take in their careers, and being more intentional about their decisions.

Each client has a unique experience and their own individual trials and strengths. We work with individual clients that are struggling with depression and anxiety, and those who want to strengthen their sense of self or are recovering from traumatic experiences. Many of our clients also find that they are better able to navigate their family dynamics. Another topic that we may focus on in individual therapy is one’s sexual identity, or their gender identity.