Session yesterday led to a breakthrough on my part of sorts. T started with the typical " what can I help you with today?"... I hate that, or any form of that question. So typically I shift in my seat and search my mind and utter "I don't know" But today, as I was about to utter the standard, I don't know... I said ," I hate that question" and proceded to tell T how it made me feel. Her response, " I have been through Therapy and this is YOUR session and something brought you here" a light bulb went off. It is MY session. I hope to approach this from an ownership perspective and by being a consumer I can readily talk more about my feelings regarding the service. After all if I buy something at a store or have my car washed if the service didn't meet my expectations I have no problem saying so. I refuse to limp into therapy like a bird with a broken wing expecting something that T cannot or will not provide, for good reason. Instead I will walk in with my head held hi because I am a survivor who happens to have a badly healed broken wing and I came to T so she can HELP me to right the wrongs and rest that wing... It may need to be rebroken to heal properly but in the end I hope to fly!

[WePow]

yippie! Great work!!! YES!!! Therapy and healing does belong to the client!!!! You get it!

[granite1]

i so want to feel this way it just sound so relieveng.awsome insight

Good things happen to those who are able to blurt things out Way to go, LolaCabanna. Thanks for sharing this - I'm going to try and remember it the next time I clam up in session.

[mcl6136]

This post really lifted me up. Of all the machinations that i do in order to try to manage the whole T experience, it's great to remind myself that this is MY therapy, MY session...MY examination of MY life.

So many things feel like I'm doing them on behalf of someone else, with someone, because of someone, for someone. A lot of my time in therapy was gauging my T's reactions.

but if I could treat these 50 minutes every week as MINE, that alone would be empowering and healing. And maybe that could become a pattern that didn't feel "selfish" just that I gave this therapy as a gift to myself.

Thanks for posting this and reminding me...it's MINE.