How Therapy Works and What You Can Expect

How Therapy Works

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Therapy (or counseling/psychotherapy) is often a structured conversation with a trained mental health professional who helps you understand and change thoughts, emotions, and behaviors that cause distress or get in the way of living the life you want. Other times, therapy is an experience, where a professional facilitates a process in therapy room to to help you tap into new thoughts, feelings and perspectives right in the counselling session.

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Therapy works through a few key processes:

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1. Building a relationship (the therapeutic alliance)
   The foundation of therapy is trust and collaboration between you and your therapist. A safe, nonjudgmental space helps you open up honestly and explore difficult issues.
2. Increasing awareness
   You start to notice patterns in how you think, feel, and act and how these patterns connect to your past or present life situations.
3. Developing insight and new skills
   Depending on the type of therapy, you might learn coping skills (e.g., breathing, grounding or communication techniques), challenge unhelpful thoughts, process trauma, or practice new behaviors.
4. Making and maintaining change
   Over time, you apply what you’ve learned to your daily life to improve relationships, manage stress, and increase emotional resilience.

What to Expect in Therapy

1. The First Session (Assessment / Intake)

• Your therapist will ask about your background, what is bringing you in, and what you hope to get out of therapy.
• It is also your chance to ask questions about how they work and gather further details about what to expect.
• Together, you’ll set goals and agree on how often you will meet (typically weekly or biweekly).

2. Ongoing Sessions

• Sessions usually last 50 minutes, though trauma processing sessions may be 90 minutes.
• You’ll talk about your recent experiences, thoughts, or feelings related to your goals.
• Your therapist may use different approaches such as:
  • CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) - Focuses on changing your thought patterns and behaviours to generate improvements to your mood.
  • Motivational interviewing - Addresses ambivalence toward change and fosters internal motivation to change a behaviour.
  • Humanistic or person-centered therapy - Emphasizes self-understanding, non-judgement and unconditional positive regard to foster growth.
  • Trauma therapies (EMDR, SE, PE, CPT) - Help you process stressful past experiences to resolve distress stored in your nervous system.

3. Homework or Practice

• Many therapists assign small activities between sessions such as journaling, noticing patterns, or trying new behaviors to reinforce progress.

4. Progress and Change

• Therapy is gradual. You might feel better quickly, or it might take time as you work through deeper issues.
• Occasional discomfort is normal and expected; it is an important part of the growth process.
• Open communication with your therapist about what is working (and what isn’t) is key. Therapists aren't mind readers!

5. Ending Therapy

• You will discuss when it is time to stop or reduce sessions, typically as you recover, or if progress plateaus and you need something different.
• Effective therapists plan collaboratively and may suggest occasional check-ins to maintain progress or mitigate setbacks early.

What You’ll Likely Gain

• Greater self-awareness
• Better emotional regulation
• Improved relationships and communication
• Healthier coping strategies
• A stronger sense of control and purpose

Would you like to know more about other forms of therapy, such as mindfulness, acceptance and commitment therapy, or DBT? Reach out for a free 15-min consultation and I can provide you a more detailed picture of what that process looks like.

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