Last week We launched the You Are Not Alone Campaign to let our #BlavityFam know that we’re having the conversations on mental health. In an effort to continue this movement we are dropping a few tips to help you get through your first therapy session.
1. Choose yourself. Taking this first step is choosing yourself and taking a step in a positive direction.
2. You will cry. Embrace it.
3. If you’re going to see a therapist remember that a therapist is not a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist is not the therapist…
One is your pusher, the other is your backer. Your therapist is there to have your back as you embrace your truth and face your demons, your psychiatrist provides prescriptions.
4. Think of therapy as a mental dump…
You have to get out all those ridiculous things you tell yourself about yourself to make room for what is really true. Take it there, nothing is going too far on your way to wellness.
5. Be honest, there is no shame or judgement in these four walls.
6. Its ok to feel a range of emotions. It’s their job to get you to feel all of those things and get it out.
7. Again you will cry. But, you are still magical even if you end up on the floor violently sobbing the feels out.
8. You will feel uncomfortable, after all you are telling a stranger all of your business but some of the best moments are birthed in uncomfortable places.
9. You will get the urge to walk out and just say screw it. DON’T. Sit through and push through.
10. The first session won’t fix everything overnight. So the less expectations you have for walking out of there perfect, the better.
11. This will be better than eating everything on the value menu and drinking a gallon of Sutter Home. Trust.
12. You don’t have to share with anyone that you’re going to therapy.
Therapists aren’t housed in a huge building that says “Crazy People Here.” No one will know unless you tell them. Dont worry about if other people are doing it or not.
13. You will start to realize that not everything has relevance, and some things and people aren’t worth the emotional space.
14. You aren’t the first person to go to therapy!
Khadijah went to therapy on Living Single, Joan went to therapy on Girlfriends, Whitley went to therapy on a Different World, and portrayed that therapy can be an extremely helpful outlet for whatever you’re going through.
15. Therapy can get crazy, but it’s nothing like these reality shows.
Marriage Boot Camp, Real Housewives, and Family Therapy all dramatized therapy for ratings, yours will be nothing like this. You will cry but you won’t have a script to guide you, so relax.
16. When you walk out of the door you should feel the joy of conquering something, because you did.
There are plenty of options to find affordable therapy that works for you. Just start your search, and go from there. Stay strong Blavity Fam!
