Individual Therapy

How is Therapy Helpful?

Today, Adults and Adolescents live demanding and busy lives; facing so much social pressure and responsibility. We live in a  time where we are always distracted by something happening in the future or from the past. Mental Health therapy in Newport Beach can help you get grounded in the present moment so you can live your life as an active participant rather than on autopilot. People that live in the present moment find that they respond to situations more mindfully and this positively impacts relationships, career, and self concept.  Now days, it is more common for people to seek out psychotherapy treatment when experiencing persistent and uncomfortable symptoms. Oftentimes, people will wait until their lives get really unmanageable before they are opened to help and we are here to tell you treatment can be useful throughout your process. The sooner someone seeks treatment the sooner they will be equipped with the tools to better problem solve and coping with everyday stressors.

Accepting Help

We understand that asking for help is an act of being vulnerable and being vulnerable and taking up space is something so may of us struggle to do. Vulnerability is never weakness. One of the leading research experts in the field of social work, Brene Brown, has done extensive research on the subject of vulnerability. Brene Brown defines vulnerability as uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure and she explains that vulnerability is actually a stepping stone to courage. You cannot get to courage without being vulnerable and taking that risk. So thank you for taking the risk and showing up here.

As we continue to break down the barriers and reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness, research is finding the prevalence among the U.S. population is estimated between 25-50% of people are suffering from some kind of mental illness. California has some of the highest rates of depression and anxiety. Mind Garden Counseling in Newport Beach is committed to serving the communities in Orange County in order to combat these extremely high rates of mental health needs.

Common Reasons for Therapy

There are different times throughout life when you might find that you need support. Some people struggle with ongoing mental health issues that have more of a biological foundation. Others can find that symptoms appear and are triggered after life events. Life changing events may include: Transitional issues (e.g.college ending moving to the workforce), relationship stress (e.g. Divorce or breakups), career change, grief (e.g. death of a loved one, including pets or job loss), geographical moves, or chronic stress (e.g. stressful home or work life).

Therapy will support the following areas:

Supporting adolescents and adults to build confidence and self esteem by:

  • letting go of shame
  • building resilience
  • Challenging unhelpful or inaccurate ways of thinking
  • Increasing healthy ways of coping and self-care
  • Identifying purpose and meaning in life
  • Understanding healthy relationships
  • Developing healthier communication skills
  • Self exploration and identity
  • Heal from stressful and traumatic experiences

What to expect from Individual Therapy

We strives to create a safe space for you to grow, explore, and flourish. Coming into therapy can be a daunting and scary process and we do our best to demystify the unknown so you know exactly what to expect.

We offers a free 15 minute phone consultation to discuss the presenting problems and hopes for counseling. At Mind Garden Counseling it is important to us to treat people within our specialities and skillset, so if for any reason the relationship does not feel like a good fit we always offer resources for other providers in the area.

The First Session

Once an appointment is scheduled the process begins with an initial intake session. Prior to your first appointment we will provide you with all the documents necessary to start treatment and we will ask you to complete these documents prior to the first appointment. This first session is 90 minutes and you will be provided the space to share your story and discuss how you got here and we can discuss a treatment plan on how we can help. In this session we will ask follow up questions to make sure we are understanding all the pieces.

From this session we will collaboratively come up with measurable treatment goals to decrease symptoms and eliminate suffering. The following weeks will usually be 50 minute session in the beginning to establish a strong therapeutic relationship and work on skill building. Down the line decreasing sessions to biweekly or even less can be an option. Tapering session is done on a case by case basis.

Ending Treatment

It is never our intention to keep our clients in therapy forever and we utilize approaches that get to the core issues to assist our clients in developing skills to achieve lasting change. The termination process is gradual and it is important that we honor our times together and get the closure we need. Many of us do not have the best experience with endings. Many people tend to avoid endings all together or deny having any feelings around it. Our hope is when the time comes to end treatment the ending feels right and you feel supported.

We hope to connect with you soon, come in we will face it together!