Ultimately the benefit and overarching goal of psychotherapy is to help you work towards a more peaceful, integrated, and purposeful life aligned to your values and life goals. You will set your own specific therapy goals with the therapist which you will work towards during the sessions.

At times it will naturally be difficult and sometimes exhausting to discuss and focus on issues throughout the session but there can also be light heartedness and celebration. Reflection often continues beyond sessions and at times there might be an ‘emotional hangover’ where you continue to process your feelings towards issues discussed, however this is a necessary part in the journey of therapy. Developing coping mechanisms together will help you to tolerate this, if required. At the same time, it's hoped you will leave feeling more empowered, relieved of emotional burden and having achieved the goals you have set yourself for therapy.

Psychotherapy is a deep exploration of yourself that will shine a light on particular issues, processes and dynamics you experience from different angles in a confidential space within a trusting relationship with the therapist. It creates a deep understanding of yourself that empowers you to find your own path forward over time, enabling you to live the life you want for yourself and meet your therapeutic goals.

It requires you to be open, honest and have some ability to reflect. While psychotherapy happens within the session, reflection often happens between sessions, which is a rich resource to bring to your future sessions. As always, psychotherapy happens at your own pace, within your own tolerance levels.

Integration means bringing different parts together to make a whole. In psychotherapy this has meaning on a number of levels:

- Working with different parts of yourself that are not in alignment to develop a more cohesive sense of self.

- Aligning your thoughts, emotions, somatic (bodily visceral feelings) and behaviour, to enable you to live more purposefully, intentionally, and cohesively.

- From a therapist’s perspective, bring together different approaches within their tool box and expertise together to create a unique approach for each individual.

The length of therapy varies depending on the individual and their specific needs. Some may only need a few sessions, while others may establish within the process of therapy a need for support more longer term.