Therapy that gives hope, fast

Having had a fair amount of therapy over the years, my experience of it was that therapy involved a lot of negativity. It usually started by talking about my issues and then talking about my past, while a sympathetic counselor listened and I assumed I was supposed to feel better by sharing my problems. In each case, it went on for a long time, cost a lot of money and yet, honestly, I didn’t experience a lot of solutions.

Through humanest I was trained in ‘Single Session Therapy’ (SST), and I instantly fell in love with it. It’s positive, practical, and efficient. I felt immediately that this was the kind of therapy I would like to offer for the rest of my life.

I’ll dive right in with 12 reasons I am passionate about Single Session Therapy.

1- It starts from where you are right now.

One reason you might dread meeting with a new therapist is the thought of having to retell your story yet again, relive your trauma again. It can take weeks of ‘history taking’ before you ever get started on the solution. SST starts with where you are right now and what you want to get done today.

2- One session is often enough.

Sessions are booked one at a time, and each session is standalone - we treat it as potentially the only one you’ll ever have. Why? Because statistics show most people do indeed only attend one session of therapy.  But SST, also referred to as One-at-a-Time Therapy, doesn’t mean you can only come once; you can come back as often as you like. That might be once a week if it’s what you prefer, or you can come every day for one week while you’re going through something tough. You can come once a month or once a year. Basically, you can come exactly when and as often as you like. But you always know that that one session will be the best value therapy you can get.

3- It assumes you are strong, not weak.

Instead of asking you about all the areas of your life where you are failing, we ask you about your successes. What is working? What have you done previously that worked? When did you get through hard times before? How did you do that? Everyone has been through struggles and come through the other side, and that means everyone has strength and has learned coping skills. We remind you of your strengths and skills and give you the encouragement to draw on them again.

4- It assumes you absolutely can conquer your problem.

It’s not if, it’s when.Whatever you are going through, we believe you absolutely can get through it. We believe in you. We are your partner, we are your champion, we are your friend. We will remind you of your awesomeness and boost your confidence. We don’t just sit by and observe, we will fight for you.

5- It starts with hope.

Rather than taking a family history or raking through all your issues and problems, we dive straight into hope. “What are your best hopes for this session” is usually our first question. It immediately switches your mind from the current problems to a happier time ahead. And every question we ask after that is focused entirely on that hoped outcome.

6- It helps you focus.

Life can seem overwhelming. You may not even know what help you need. You may not know what your problem is. You just feel lost, or stuck, or depressed, or anxious, or overwhelmed. SST counselors are trained to help you (in the very first session) pull out the needle from the haystack, figure out your starting point. It may not be your only problem, granted, but you have to start somewhere, and we help you find out where that is.

7- We take it one step at a time.

Once we’ve worked out where to start, we break it right down. There may be a lot of work to do, a lot of thinking to be done, but all of it has to start somewhere. And it’s much easier to think about that very first step rather than the whole staircase. Think of how relaxing it would be to put aside all of your worries apart from one small action point for today. Step two will still be there tomorrow, but we aren’t going to be able to get to it until we conquer step one.

8- It’s about Action.

Once we’ve established your goal for that session, SST counselors are rigorous in collaboratively designing actionable steps for you to take. Not sometime this year, but this week. When you wake up tomorrow, what will you do differently? It’s about committing to action. Yes, talking can help, but action is where you’ll make a difference in your life.

9- You get homework!

Not all SST practitioners do this, but at humanest we give you homework! At the end of every single session, the counselor gives you a personal Action Plan. It reminds you of your strengths by detailing everything that you’re currently doing that’s working for you, it lists your detailed plan of action, and it spells out what you will do should you encounter any obstacles - which you talk about and address during the session. So, no excuses!

10- We know change is possible.

SST helps people to believe in themselves and pay more attention to their strengths and resources, no longer just focusing on their flaws as if they are in their DNA, unable to be changed. Once people focus on their resources they begin to see themselves differently, even if slightly, and this makes all the difference in being able to participate in a solution focused conversation and conceptualize a future without the problem that brought them into therapy.

11- It helps even if you’ve got big problems.

Even if you have major and complex mental health problems, you still have to live your life day to day. And that’s where SST can help. The more difficult your past, the more coping strategies you’ve likely developed, whether you know it or not. We can help you to tap into those strengths to deal with what’s happening in your life right now.

12- You leave with hope.

At the end of a session you’ll feel lighter and hopeful about your ability to manage your current situation. You’ll have tapped into your inner superhero and feel able to take control of your destiny.

Try a single session with a humanest counselor today. Get started