What to Expect From Therapy
Over time, psychiatrists have developed many modalities of therapy that are used for specific cases or personal preferences. Their understanding of how these therapy options work has only grown over time, and now more than ever, there are so many options available for patients.
In this article, we’ll guide you through:
- What to expect before your first session
- What to expect during a therapy session
- What to expect from Sequoia Behavioral Health’s integrative treatment program
- What to expect from the different levels of treatment at Sequoia Behavioral Health
At Sequoia Behavioral Health, we take a holistic approach to mental health. If you choose to seek treatment with us we’ll work with you to create a therapy plan that is designed for your specific needs. Here’s what to expect from therapy at Sequoia Behavioral Health.
Admissions
Before you start your therapy journey, there are a few technicalities that you need to take care of. Getting admitted to a behavioral health program does require some signatures and phone calls.
Verify Insurance (Let us Do it)
Before attending therapy sessions your insurance needs to be verified. Some insurance companies allow a certain number of therapy sessions a year. Others may ask for a formal diagnosis from your general practitioner before starting treatment.
It’s a good idea to call your insurance company to see what your options are. However, the easiest way to verify your insurance is to ask the treatment facility to handle it.
We can verify your insurance for you so you don’t have to worry about playing phone tag. If you’re interested in starting treatment at Sequoia Behavioral Health, fill out this form as best as you can, and we’ll call you to get any information you weren’t able to find on your own.
This process can feel daunting, but we’ll do the heavy lifting for you.
Phone Consultation
Most places like to hear a bit of your story before admitting you. For us, this happens during a phone consultation.
One of our compassionate, nonjudgemental admissions specialists will talk with you to ensure Sequoia is the right fit for you. If it’s found that it’s not a good fit, we can give you recommendations that may suit you better.
Choosing Your Therapy Plan
When you arrive at one of our healing centers you’ll have a conversation with your psychiatrist to build a treatment plan. This includes conversations about your health history, what you’re dealing with, what your goals are, and what you care about.
This conversation will be the guide to building your personal treatment plan. Treatment plans include what, if any, kind of medication should be used, and what kinds of therapies should be implemented.
What to Expect From Therapy Sessions
When it comes to therapy itself, there are things you can expect to experience.
Building Trust
Before you can open up to your therapist, it’s important to build trust. Your therapist may build trust by:
- Talking about the therapy process
- Setting boundaries
- Getting to know you
Some forms of therapy like EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) can be considered very intense for the client. Because of this, Your therapist will most likely teach you grounding exercises for you to use if things get too much for you
Other therapy types like psychoanalysis require a high level of trust between the client and therapist. It may take a while for this trust to grow, but your therapist will do all they can to make sure you’re safe.
Related Articles: EMDR, Jungian Psychotherapy, Modern Psychoanalytic Therapy
Active Listening
Your therapist will take their time listening to you. In most modern therapy modalities, you (the client), are the expert.
Your therapist may interject by asking you a question about how something made you feel, or ask you to engage in a certain exercise, and in some cases may challenge you. However, they should be paying close attention to what you have to say before anything else.
Conversation
Most forms of therapy are considered talk therapy. If you’re enrolled in a form of talk therapy you’ll spend a good chunk of time just talking with your therapist and working through what you’re feeling.
A back-and-forth conversation is important for many forms of therapy.
Related Article: Motivational Interviewing
Mindfulness Practices or Stimulation
Many therapists will encourage you to engage in mindfulness practices as part of your treatment. These practices grow your self-awareness.
Some other therapies like:
- EMDR
- Emotional freedom techniques
- Somatic experiencing
Use stimulation during therapy sessions. Each of these examples conduct stimulation a bit differently and for a different purpose. For example, EMDR uses bilateral stimulation to activate the brain's natural function of storing memories to correctly process trauma.
Related Articles: Emotional Freedom Techniques, Somatic Experiencing
Empathy and Compassion
One of the goals of therapy is to create a safe place for you to heal. You should expect your therapist to take an empathetic and compassionate approach to your sessions.
Sequoia Behavioral Health takes this aspect of therapy very seriously. Our staff is trained and wants to care for you compassionately and thoughtfully. We take our job, and your mental health, seriously.
What to Expect from Different Kinds of Therapy
You might be wondering what kind of therapy you need. The answer to this question is dependent on your situation. What you’re dealing with and who you’re seeking help from.
Here’s a list of different forms of therapy and what makes them unique. If you’re seeking help with us, your plan will include several of these modalities to address your mental well being holistically.
Psychoanalysis and Psychodynamic Therapy
This category of therapy uses techniques to help you understand your unconscious thoughts and how they affect your life.
Psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapies include:
These are built in some way on Sigmund Freud’s theories and often deal with understanding experiences from childhood.
Mind-Body Connection Therapies
Your body can tell you more about your mental health than you might think. These therapies use the mind-body connection to better understand your mental health. Mind-body therapies include:
These options are often paired with other forms of therapy as part of a whole treatment plan.
Relational Therapies
How you relate to others is an important part of your life. These therapies help you better understand your tendencies in relationships as well as help you work through familial issues and grief.
Education
During your time in therapy, your therapist will educate you about psychotherapy and psychology in general. To do this, your therapist may apply any or all of these:
These are not formal education programs, but rather frameworks that help therapists educate their clients.
Medicine
Most treatment plans will include some form of medication. At Sequoia Behavioral Health we offer:
Pharmacogenetic testing helps us find the right medication and dosage for your needs. Read more about it in this article.
Trauma-Focused Therapy
At Sequoia, we take a trauma-informed approach to everything we do. However, some forms of therapy address trauma specifically. Trauma-addressing therapy includes:
Some approaches to trauma will ask you to “confront” your trauma and thoughts and feeling around it, while others don’t require you to talk directly about it.
Motivational and Positive Psychotherapy
These forms of therapy help people understand their full potential. Instead of thinking of problems as needing to be fixed, these therapies focus on strengths.
- Narrative therapy
- Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
- Strength-Based Therapy
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Motivational Interviewing
Reevaluating the story you tell yourself can change the way you approach situations and guide you toward the life you want.
Worldview, Culture, and Faith Informed Therapy
Every therapist should take your faith, culture, race, and worldview into consideration. Here are some forms of therapy that do just that:
- Humanistic Therapy
- Christian Counseling
- Multicultural Therapy
- Existential Phenomenological Psychotherapy
Some of these are not specific forms of therapy and are rather approaches that can guide other types of therapy
Mindfulness-Focused Therapy
Most therapy will include mindfulness in some way. Sitting with your thoughts and working through them is an act of mindfulness on its own. These therapies intentionally integrate mindfulness into the structure and approach:
Behavioral Therapy
All behavioral therapies are built on the idea that thoughts and emotions affect your behavior. Behavioral therapy includes:
The goal of these therapies is for you to better understand your thoughts and emotions and in turn change your behavior.
Levels of Care
Not only are there different options for therapy available, but there are different options for how you receive care. These options range from live-in facilities to weekly therapy sessions.
We offer three levels of care at Sequoia:
- Inpatient Treatment
- Partial Hospitalization Program
- Intensive Outpatient Program
To learn more about each treatment, visit our Levels of Care page or read more in this article.
Inpatient Treatment
At Sequoia Behavioral Health, we offer an intimate family-style living space that will feel like a home away from home. Clients live together, eat together, and participate in individual and group therapies.
Intensive Outpatient Program
Intensive outpatient programs (IOP) give you the option to live at home while receiving treatment multiple times a week. This level of care exists somewhere between inpatient and traditional therapy, but you’ll still receive the same programming as the other levels of care at Sequoia.
Our IOP is also designed to help people who have gone through our inpatient treatment to continue their healing journey, or those that don’t need residential care.
Partial Hospitalization Program
Partial hospitalization programs offer you the same level of care as inpatient care but you’ll return home every night. You’ll be spending six hours a day, five days a week at our outpatient facility.
This level of care is often used after inpatient care, but before outpatient care or traditional therapy.
Finding Healing at Sequoia Behavioral Health
Our programming brings a holistic approach to mental health. We offer a lot and that’s because we believe there is no one-size-fits-all approach to mental wellness.
If you or a loved one are looking for a place to heal, contact Sequoia Behavioral Health to see if it’s the right place for you.