Maintaining Your Progress In Therapy
As we round the corner of a full year of pandemic living, the acute crisis point of the event seems to be behind us. The initial shock and disruption of COVID has somewhat turned into the sad backdrop of our lives. Still a significantly impactful experience, many of us have become acclimated to the many ways that the pandemic has changed our lives. Maintaining your progress in therapy is an important way to ensure that you emerge from this pandemic with your mental health in tip top shape!
Therapy has been an important tool for many, to help cope with the stressors of the pandemic. Some people had already been in therapy prior to 2020, while others turned to counseling as a new method of assistance. As normalcy begins to resume this summer, some may wonder “do I still need to be in therapy?”.
Here’s some ways to determine where you stand with your progress in therapy:
If you attended therapy pre-COVID and are feeling like the pandemic is not a huge stressor in your life anymore, it may be helpful to revisit your original goals for therapy and return to working through those problems with your therapist.
If you are new to therapy because of COVID, ask yourself if there are any other issues related to your past or current life that you could use your time in therapy to start working on
If COVID has created a new set of stressors and concerns in your life, work with your therapist to identify goals to help reduce these COVID induced issues (ex - new health anxiety, agoraphobia, lost friendships, unemployment, etc).
If you are attending weekly sessions, ask yourself if the therapy hour goes by quickly and there is still so much to say. If that answer is yes, you are a good candidate for weekly therapy - carry on! If the answer is no and you find that things in your life have settled down a bit, you are probably ready to decrease your frequency to biweekly sessions.
If you are attending biweekly sessions, ask yourself if things feel stable and some of your original therapy goals have been met. If that answer is yes, you are probably ready for monthly check in sessions or possible discharge. If the answer is no, then biweekly is a good maintenance rate for you.
If you are enjoying your current therapy schedule and find that the rhythm is meeting your mental health needs, stick with it!! Create new goals when old ones are met and be proud that you have established a healthy, working relationship with your therapist :)
Therapists love talking about progress and goals! The therapy hour is dedicated to you and your needs - you are always welcome to discuss your progress in therapy.
The summer months can be busy and focused on fun plans and activities. It can be a natural time to check in with yourself and see where your therapy needs stand. Some clients will use the easy summer months to take a pause or step back in therapy, almost an experiment of sorts. You can see how you do with less therapeutic support during a set of months that are largely enjoyable for most people. If you do want to take a “summer break”, you can discuss this with your therapist. You will definitely want to make sure you schedule a follow up session for the fall, as many therapist’s schedules are booked out for months with long waitlists and may not have openings down the road. Maintaining your therapeutic progress is important for your long term mental health and worth the time to think about!
