So! You made the big decision to reach out and book an appointment with a psychotherapist (or personal counsellor). Good for you! After several appointments though, something isn’t right. It’s important to acknowledge intuitive feelings. For treatment to work, trust is essential. If you can’t trust your counsellor, therapy will be difficult, if not impossible. But, before you decide to end a therapeutic relationship, there are some things to consider. Explore trust and therapy.
Psychotherapy and personal counselling provide the space to explore issues with a trained professional. By understanding one’s thoughts, feelings and behaviours, new ways of interacting with the world can be cultivated. You’ll develop strategies to better manage life issues, including stress, depression and anxiety, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and trauma.
It may be difficult to trust your psychotherapist at first if you have experienced unexpected or traumatic situations or if important people in your life have let you down or harmed you. Remember, this is about you, not the therapist. Trust takes time. As you tell the therapist about your life and they respond appropriately, trust will grow. It will feel uncomfortable, and that is okay. You may feel embarrassed by how much you share or how emotional you get. That is okay too. Your therapist knows how to manage and respond to intense feelings and upsetting scenarios.
If you feel comfortable with your therapist, it is completely appropriate to discuss issues surrounding trust. How a therapist responds to this discussion will help build trust as well. Therapy may make you feel worse, and this is to be expected as you begin to talk about the challenges in your life. In the long term, therapy should help you better manage the challenges in your life. Building a relationship takes time.
You are always welcome to reach out to me should you be looking for a psychotherapist, counsellor, or therapist (terms are interchangeable). I would be happy to schedule a 15-minute free consultation to see if we are a good fit. Your email is absolutely confidential and will go directly to me. Perhaps you’d like to read and/or subscribe to my blog, Ready, Set, Grow… to get to know me and to find answers to some of life’s most perplexing questions.
If a therapist violates boundaries, then it is time to end the relationship. Boundary violations can be sexual, emotional, physical, or financial. If the therapist invalidates your feelings or therapy feels manipulative, then it is time to end the relationship. If, after several sessions and a discussion about trust, the relationship still isn’t feeling great, then it is absolutely appropriate to move on. You do not owe your loyalty to a therapist. It is not a failure on your part if it doesn’t work out. You need to do what is best for you, and trust your psychotherapist.
Would you like to learn more about me? I’m ready to learn more about you!
Listening. Guiding. Caring.
