Individual therapy begins with what you want to work on. Typically you have in mind what’s going on in your life that isn’t working, even if putting that into words is challenging.

We often hear a combination of items on the “what isn’t working” list; as humans, issues often link from one to the other. Rarely is someone feeling anxious without also experiencing challenges at work or home, or perhaps having past experiences that reinforce anxiety, or having a body that is highly sensitive to changes in environment. Rarely is someone feeling depressed without also having trouble with relationships or past experiences that impact their mood.

Humans are complex, so you don’t have to arrive at therapy with a concise, single thing to work on. And, if you do arrive with a single thing to work on, get ready to have that single thing expanded upon until you’re like, “Yep, there’s more here.”

Each therapist at Levity starts individual therapy work by getting a thorough background on you, your history and all the areas of your life. We want to know you, not just what you think is “wrong” with you.

Then we use our knowledge and training in specific techniques to work with you on how you relate to your concerns. We often see clients who are very critical of themselves and their thoughts, so we work on softening how you talk to your self (also known as self-talk) and how to respond to yourself when you make a mistake or behave in unhelpful ways. If you’ve experienced trauma, we’ll work on giving you language to put to what your brain is doing and how it’s trying to protect you. Our approaches depend on our unique therapeutic styles and you and your concerns.