October 14th, 2026
So, You’re Thinking About Therapy. Now What?
If you’re reading this article, there’s a pretty good chance that there’s something you’re struggling with and you’ve considered scheduling your first therapy session, but you may be anxious, especially if you’ve never tried therapy before. It’s normal to feel nervous about beginning your counseling journey and to have questions about what you can expect as a new client. That’s what this article is for. As a person who’s sat on both sides of the coffee table, today, I want to speak with you about some of the benefits therapy offers and provide some insight on how to best prepare to make the most of your sessions.
Why should you go to therapy?
Working with a therapist also provides another important factor: an outside, nonjudgmental perspective. Sometimes we need that kind of input to understand the larger picture. One professor I had once told us that if we didn’t like what we were painting, take twenty steps back and look at it again. Stepping back helps you to see the whole picture. Therapy can offer that same opportunity. When you're caught up in a difficult situation, it can be hard to see beyond your own perspective. A therapist can help you step back, consider things you might not have noticed, and look at your circumstances from a different angle.
What skills can you develop through therapy?
Depending on their needs, clients can learn many valuable skills from attending regular therapy sessions. While some clients come to therapy following a crisis, these are skills that anyone can learn and use in any number of circumstances.
● Emotional awareness: You can learn to identify what you're feeling, understand why
you're feeling it, and recognize how emotions influence your behavior.
● Emotional regulation: You can develop healthier ways to manage anxiety, anger,
sadness, frustration, and distress without becoming overwhelmed by them.
● Communication: You can learn to express your needs, establish boundaries, listen
effectively, and navigate disagreements with others.
● Relationship skills: You can recognize relationship patterns, practice building trust, and
develop healthier connections with partners, family members, friends, and coworkers.
● Trauma processing: You can process painful experiences at a pace that feels
manageable and develop a greater sense of safety and control.
● Problem-solving and decision-making: You can identify options, evaluate consequences,
and make decisions that align with your values and goals.
● Grief and acceptance: You can work with your therapist to process loss, make sense of
difficult experiences, and decide how to move forward without judging yourself or feeling
the need to erase or minimize what happened.
● Stress management: You can recognize stressors, develop coping strategies, and find
healthier ways to respond to life's demands.
What should you know before coming to therapy?
Firstly, understand that therapy is a collaborative activity. Your therapist is trained in the strategies, techniques, and psychoeducation, but you are an expert on you. You know what you feel, do, and think. You know what feels easy and what feels hard. You know when something has changed. Please share these things with your counselor. However, if it doesn’t always feel that way, at the very least, you know where you want to see change even if “change” just means, “not feeling like I do now.”
Secondly, find the therapist that works best for you. There are many different styles of therapy as there are therapists and there’s no shame in deciding that something isn’t working. If it isn’t, I implore you to try to be open and honest about that fact. Your therapist is there to help you whether that means exploring why you are finding a part of therapy difficult or finding methods and techniques that work for you.
Thirdly, therapy is not a passive activity. Take it from someone who has experienced therapy as both a client and a provider. If you want to see effective results, you have to be willing to try to use the techniques and strategies you learn. Frankly, they may not work the first, second, or third time, but each attempt is progress. Finally, as you progress through your counseling journey, realize that there may be things that you discover that are painful that cause you to resist exploring those parts of yourself or your experience. That’s natural.