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Clients have wondered if it’s possible to “do therapy wrong.” How could that be wrong if you are in our session to find meaning, healing, and connection? In your session with me, I want you to feel comfortable, welcome, and safe to tell your story. I know our time together each week is brief. I want you to leave each session with less fear, more hope, and self-compassion.

 

The you in session is the only you I see. Despite my clients' broad-stroke similarities, I do my best to see your unique cultural, familial, and environmental backgrounds. Your way of seeing the world, individual struggles, and strengths are special to you—and, hence, special to me. What is similar between you and your caseload counterparts is that each of you is brave and hopeful and seeks therapy for growth and change. 

 

Sometimes, you might wonder about me, who I am, out of session.  This is our normal curiosity. I know this from my own experience as a curious client in session. You may be curious about my family life, the book collection on the shelf, or why my hair never seems quite "done.” (I wonder about that as well.) While in my twenties, I had an immensely helpful therapist. I’d often wonder why she seemed to have a long-standing cold. Was it allergies? She would clutch her tea mug and make profound insights with an orchestra of sneezes. She was a lovely and effective psychologist with an unfortunate perpetual pink nose. Her help was invaluable and worth every penny I paid as a struggling new graduate. I never volunteered the idea of her trying a neti pot (but I wanted to). So, wonder away about therapists outside of session, clients often do. 

 

My dear, the you in session will never be doing therapy “wrong.”  I don’t always get things exactly right and fumble my words more often than I’d like, but I hope to help you make the complexities of life more manageable. The part of you in session is sacred, tender, and here to heal. 

 

Onward, 

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Mandy

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