Advocating for Yourself When You’re New to Therapy

Speaking up for yourself isn’t an easy thing to do, and it can feel especially intimidating when you’re in a setting that’s new to you. It is often difficult to voice your concerns, needs, and feelings when it means having an uncomfortable conversation with someone else.  

When it comes to starting therapy for the first time, advocating for yourself is crucial. It helps you find the right care for your mental health in more ways than one, and it can teach you a lot and foster a sense of confidence.

At Jackson House, we firmly believe that each person has their own unique mental health needs, and we believe that honest conversations open the door for breakthroughs and real healing. Read on to uncover some tips for advocating for yourself when you first start therapy. 

The Benefits Of Therapy

With therapy comes the potential for many different benefits in your life. Talking through issues that you have never vocalized before can bring a huge sense of relief, and you might learn a lot about yourself just by saying things out loud. 

Therapists can offer their insight and guide you toward viewing things through a new lens. Talking to them can help you come to revelations, unpack trauma, and learn ways to better manage triggers and symptoms through coping skills you can practice in your everyday life.

Over time, you can work towards healing your relationships with yourself and others, and you can accomplish your goals, too. These advantages and many more are only possible through honest conversations with a person you trust, and you may have to voice your needs in order to get there.

Why Advocating For Yourself Matters

When you first start therapy, you may not have the full picture of what you need from your therapist. These revelations might come through the process of talking to them. 

For example, you might not realize how much you’ve been needing to feel validated until you experience it in a conversation with them. There are things that professionals can show you and teach you due to their extensive experience that reveal something you didn't even know you were missing. 

On the other hand, you might not know that a certain subject of conversation is off-limits for you until it is approached for the first time. There might be tactics or topics that you do not want to use or unpack, or there might be other things that you would rather spend your sessions focused on.

Once you start to understand more of what you do and don’t need, you can learn how to advocate for yourself. Beyond establishing healthy boundaries and being able to tell someone your preferences, it can help you build your self-confidence skills, too.

You will typically find that when you are able to speak up for yourself, the communication between you and your therapist will get better. This helps to foster an environment of transparency and mutual respect. 

Tips For Sessions

In order to get the most out of your sessions, you will want to prepare in advance to the best of your ability. Try to think about some things you want to talk about and identify a goal or several goals that you have for yourself. 

Write down any initial questions, preferences, ideas, or things you think they should know about you in advance, and bring them to your first session so you can start off strong. 

Though therapists are trained in guiding your sessions, you are still an active participant in your own healing journey. It is more than okay to express your thoughts before and during guided conversations; in fact, the point of therapy is to be honest about how you feel. This helps your therapist to better understand what you are working toward and how they can support you. 

Honesty and Hard Conversations 

Hard conversations are an inevitable part of therapy. Though it’s never easy to work through challenges and feel vulnerable, you may reach a point where you are uncomfortable and need the conversation to change its course. 

When a therapeutic strategy or a conversation is not what you need at the moment, your therapist won’t know that until you tell them. It can feel scary to ask for a pivot in a conversation, but it is very productive for both parties. 

Try to approach these conversations with grace and respect, and politely ask if you can switch topics or methods. Share what you are not comfortable with and explain why if you can. If possible, suggest something that is on your mind if there's something else you’d prefer to address. Your therapist is there for your individual success, and telling them this equips them to redirect the conversation to be more helpful for you. 

Find The Right Fit

Therapy takes some time to settle into. Maybe you need a few sessions before you warm up, or maybe the first therapist you see isn’t the right match for you

Try not to lose heart if you don’t click with your first therapist, as this is perfectly normal. You deserve to find someone you feel like you can be yourself around, and it might take a few tries to find a person you connect with. Remember that you are there for your own mental health and well-being, and this means changing courses when something isn’t working.

The right therapist should make you feel validated, understood, and challenged in the right ways. When you are comfortable with a therapist, hard conversations feel safer and less overwhelming, and you feel more compelled to share freely. As you build a relationship with them, they have a stronger understanding of what you need from them. 

Through these conversations, you can find your way toward new perspectives, coping skills, and healing that lasts. 

Jackson House Mental Health Support

At Jackson House, we offer mental health support through a range of treatment options, with each of our professionals dedicated to the success of your treatment.

Choosing to seek help is one of the most courageous things that you can do, and we’re here to help. Get in touch with us today to chat more about this.