Adult Counseling & THERAPY in Jefferson City, Mo

On a functional level, counseling works through a series of conversations and interventions, all designed to help the client unblock their growth and/or heal from whatever might be holding them back.

It’s hard to not be vague with this answer because counseling is such a unique process. The generalities are largely true, but the boots-on-the-ground work in session is going to look different each time you’re on the metaphorical (or actual) couch.

To expand a little more here, it’s important to note that in having conversations about stuck points in life with a trained professional, you’ll be asked pointed questions about your thoughts, feelings, behaviors, actions, hypocrisies (we’re all human), and barriers to growth/healing/your goals. In discussing them, you’ll either a) gain insight, b) be softly guided in a new direction/line of thinking, c) be asked to process the feelings that might be the barrier, d) some combination of the above, or e) something else I’m missing entirely.

Like I said, kind of hard to explain in a succinct way. It’s a pretty magical experience, though (speaking as a counselor and as a person who has sought counseling).

Great question! This is a combination of factors, including some logistical and some emotional.

Logistically, you’re going to want somebody who has a schedule that works with yours, who takes the pay you want to use (whether out of pocket or insurance), who works on the issues you’re coming in for (i.e., anxiety, couples counseling, depression), and who has openings.

Emotionally, you’re going to want somebody who you “vibe” with. You should feel seen, heard, understood, safe, and empathized with. You should feel no judgment from the therapist, and you should trust that when you show up, you can fully be yourself (to the extent of your comfortability). That’s harder to quantify, but you’ll know when it’s “not” there, and if it’s not, I’d say that’s not the right fit counselor for you. If it is there, run with it.

Largely speaking, yes. Anything you say in the “office” (whether actual or remote) will stay within the office. However, please note that while therapists are bound by confidentiality, there are exceptions to the rule.

Some exceptions for when therapists must break confidentiality include suspected abuse of vulnerable populations, court-ordered subpoenas, and intent to harm oneself or somebody else, to name a few. Largely speaking, therapists work hard to keep everything in confidence, and if there are instances or times when

Ooh, this is so super dependent on the issues you’re coming in for and the style of therapy.

I can say that at The Counseling Hub, we don’t really engage in brief therapy (i.e., eight sessions or less). We’re of the opinion (and research supports) that some therapy is more helpful than non and that more therapy is more helpful than less.

The shortest amount of time we would recommend for therapy is 12 weeks, but the longest might be a few years (not weekly in the majority of cases).

On a session-by-session basis, therapy can vary from 30-minutes to two hours. Our standard is a 55-minute session, and your therapist will likely default to that unless there’s reason and need to either shorten or extend the time.

Another great question! It depends, but we offer a sliding scales for folks paying out of pocket, we accept major insurance carriers, and we offer reduced rates for interns, as well as a handful of pro bono spots for our full-time therapists. If you’re wanting details, you can email our Client Care Coordinator directly (contact@thecounselinghub.com) to talk through what might work for you.

This is such a great question. You can expect a mix of things.

First, you can expect some housekeeping. We’ll go over some basic things like informed consent, relevant policies, and ask if you have any questions.

Second, we’ll get some history. This can include information about why you’re here, what successful therapy looks like, where you’re stuck (and for how long), as well as information about your family history, occupational history, psychiatric and psychological history, strengths, and more. It’s fairly common to not get through everything in the first session, so don’t fret if you don’t.

At the end of session one, you might start talking about goal setting. Not to concern you with that language - goals are flexible and should fit, so this might just be the start of a conversation. [Additionally, if you don’t have a goal for therapy, it’s hard to gauge if you’re working in the right direction.]

Lastly, and this is interwoven throughout session one, you can expect to start forming a relationship with the therapist. This sounds trite, I’m sure, but it’s so damn important - it’s hard to understate, really. It’s very important that you feel seen, heard, understood, etc., to the extent possible in that first session. That’s taking place throughout, but is a cornerstone for effective therapy.

This is just an overview, of course, and each therapist practices their own unique way. That said, this will give you a general sense of what to expect in session one!

Of course you can! I encourage people to give a new therapist three sessions. I’ve anecdotally (and for years) found that by session three, you know for sure if the therapist is a good fit for you. Session one is difficult to judge (because there’s so much information gathering happening), session two is possible to judge, but sometimes it’s more information (depending on how session one ended). Session three is basically set. You should know by the end whether of not you’re in the right place/with the right clinician.

SO, if you’re not in the right place, you can either give feedback to the therapist and ask for referrals, contact Client Care directly and ask for referrals (contact@thecounselinghub.com), or seek out a new therapist. I’ll add that not having a right fit isn’t a big deal - therapists care about you getting the most out o therapy and not staying loyal to them out of a misguided attempt at whatever. It’s fine by us, and we’re generally happy to help support you in whatever moves you need to make.

Additionally, if you feel like therapy isn’t working after you’ve been working with a therapist (who you’ve been vibing with), then I’d recommend bringing it up to the therapist to try to figure out why. It could be a simple tweak on the therapist side of things, or the addition of an intervention or homework (for example). This might also mean that the approach isn’t working - it might be that you need couples work instead of individual, or that you need trauma therapy instead of talk therapy (as another example). There are many reasons why counseling might not be working, and so talking about it can be helpful in fleshing out the reasons.

Ultimately, to wrap up this question (there’s way more I could say, but I need to cut myself off here), yes, you can absolutely end therapy at any point in time, including when you feel like it’s not helpful any more.

Funny enough, it usually does. That feeling-better-immediately feeling does not last after the first few sessions, though.

People feel better when they feel heard and understood, so those first few sessions can be powerful just by having an unbiased person actively and deeply listening to what you’re sharing. That’s one reason why you can feel better immediately.

Longer term, therapy is hard. It’s emotionally taxing, it takes effort and attention, it gently forces you to self-assess and figure out what you’re doing in life, it helps you process trauma, etc. - all of those things aren’t for the faint of heart. They’re difficult, beautiful, bold things to do. Easy is not a word I would use to describe the work, but it’s still worth the work with the (hopeful!!) outcome of feeling better.

I couldn’t answer that question without clarifying that feeling better immediately doesn’t mean that the work is done - it likely means that you feel relieved you don’t have to go at it alone (and all the other things above). This is great question, though, and I appreciate you asking!