Tips for choosing quality therapy to nourish you through every season
Over the last few months, I’ve gotten a little bored hearing myself repeat to new clients that "The quality of the therapeutic relationship is the best predictor of positive outcomes in therapy." I realize now, that although this statement is intended to connect us, without going deeper, it really falls flat. So, how do you actually conceptualize the quality of a relationship, let alone a new one, with someone you’ve never met and are expected to share your heart with? I aim to break this conundrum down, waaaay down, to the ground so that you can discern therapy that checks boxes from therapy that actually sustains you—through each season of life.
Let’s start with the soil. Walk with me...before you even sit down to eat you have made a series of decisions about the kind of food you’re willing to ingest. These decisions have been informed by societal, political, social, and also emotional norms. At a high level, you might be eating food that was grown in harsh conditions, highly modified, and mishandled. It fills you up but it doesn’t keep you sustained for very long. On the contrary, when you’ve made the occasional choice to dine more consciously, on food that was nurtured inside the same geographical region, by people who’ve tended it with love—you noticed a sense of connection, responsibility, and fulfillment. You want to remember this meal.