Therapy FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Should I See a Therapist?
How Does Therapy Work?
How Do I Choose a Therapist?
Does there have to be something wrong with me?
There is a traditional misconception that therapy is only for people who are “broken” or “mentally ill”. In reality, every human being can benefit from the growth ptential that therapy offers. Seeking therapy does not mean there is something wrong with you. It means that you have the vision and willingness to self-reflect in ways that can dramtically improve your life and your relationships. Why would someone not want to do that?
Why can’t I figure stuff out myself?
Your most important insights are already inside you. But the trials of life can shut down our awareness of our own wisdom and our capacity to move through emotional blocks. Humans are social animals. We need connection. Therapy provides a relationship that jump-starts our capacity to self-reflect and access our own answers. It leads us out of the stuck, repetitive, self-reinforcing patterns. By reducing our sense of aloneness, it motivates us to move forward.
Why not just talk to friends or family members?
Therapy provides a relationship where two people focus on one. No one else can do that for you, without having their own stake in the game. Friends and family offer vital support, and a healthy life includes rich connections with people you love. What a therapist offers is different.
The training of the therapist and the nature of the therapeutic relationship provide you with a unbiased, unconditionally accepting, emotionally safe place to self-reflect and be received (to the best of your therapist’s ability). The growth you experience in therapy can help you improve your other relationships, so that they are even more fulfilling.
What about medication?
Some people respond well to psychiatric medication. Others not so much. But regardless of whether medication is helpful for you, a fulfilling life requires self-reflection. So we suggest that whether or not you benefit from medication, you take advantage of therapy as a place to grow, engage your natural emotional healing process, and improve your relationship with yourself and others. As you solidify gains in this way, perhaps medication will become less necessary.
Should I bring other members of my family to therapy?
Sometimes you may want therapy for a family member (child, spouse, relative). You may want to have joint sessions with them, or sessions with the whole family. Any combination of people can attend a therapy session. But it important to work out with your therapist who will be coming to each meeting. Sometimes it is not clear at the beginning whether the therapy will include family members or not. Start out by coming in with whoever you think should be there. Then your therapist can make recommendations about who should attend future sessions.
When a parent brings a youth in for therapy the issue of confidentiality can be important to address. Sometimes the therapist will adivise the nvolvement of other family members i the therapy. In other cases, the therapist may choose to keep the therapy with the youth separate and confidential. The various options of confidentiality in therapy with youth is described here.
How long does it take?
Short and Long Term Therapy
Therapy can be as short or as long as you choose. Short term therapy can help you address a specific problem, make a decision, or reach a specified goal. Your therapist can help you focus, consider multiple perspectives, and resolve any emotional blocks to moving forward.
Your therapist can also help you learn and practice tools for managing your emotions, re-evaluating old beliefs, and changing behavior patterns. These tools can help when anxiety is overwhelming, depression weighs you down, anger threatens to boil over, or grief strikes you.
Therapy can be much more, however, than a way to learn some specific tools. Longer term therapy goes beyond specific goals and addresses your relationship with yourself, and your capacity for personal growth. It may be about healing past trauma, or recovering awareness of different parts of yourself. Larger goals may take more time. But this dedicated attention to yourself can reap wide-ranging changes in your enjoyment of life.
What’s really happening?
Our Natural Emotional Healing Process
People have a natural capacity to address and resolve the stress and emotions of life. This process involves identifying, allowing, and expressing your feelings in the presence of someone who can receive you with empathy, attunement and non-judgement. This natural healing process allows us to move through stuck places, and change the patterns of thought and behavior that no longer serve us.
Early in life, however, this natural process can get interrupted. We are shamed, judged, neglected, and sometimes abused. We may lose access to our natural healing capacity, because we have to deal with emotionally unsafe circumstances. Therapy provides us with a relationship that can help us re-engage our natural healing process. It helps us recover an aware, compassionate, and flexible relationship with ourselves.
What can I expect in a therapy session?
You will have a chance to address whatever is most important to you. And you can change course if you need to. You are in charge. Your therapist is there to assist. Therapists:
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- ask questions to help you reflect,
- reflect their understanding of what you say,
- empathize with and contextualize your experience,
- make guesses about things at the edge of your awareness,
- suggest different ways to frame your experience,
- help you deepen your emotional experience,
- facilitate your understanding of different parts of yourself
- identify your strengths
- teach useful concepts and skills
Therapists are not there to analyze you, pathologize you, or tell you what you have to do. If your therapist does this, get a new therapist!
What’s my role as the client?
Therapy is about you. So it does require that you take initiative and actively choose to self-explore. The therapist can guide your journey, but you are a co-pilot. This means you can’t just answer questions and expect the therapist to come up with an answer. Likewise, you can’t just talk nonstop without allowing your therapist to be involved in your self-inquiry.
In therapy you develop your capacity to explore the edge of your awareness, the place where your inner voice is speaking, but you are not listening yet. Gradually, through your experience in therapy, you become better and better at self-reflection without the attention of a therapist.
What are the different approaches to therapy?
There are many different therapeutic orientations. Here is a description of some we value at Shine a Light.
What do I look for in a therapist?
Research on therapy outcomes supports the idea that personal rapport between you and your therapist is the most important thing. How do you feel speaking with them? Do you feel safe? Do you understand them when they describe how they help people? Do you respect their intelligence? Do you feel cared about?
Sometimes people immediately give a lot of power to a therapist. Rather than question whether the therapist is a good fit for them, they disregard their intuition. Make sure you stay in charge of your choice of therapist. And choose someone who supports you feeling empowered to make your own choices throughout the therapeutic journey.
What are the different licensing types?
It is easy to get confused about all the different types of therapists, and their different degrees and licenses. Below is a brief guide to help you find the right kind of therapist for you.
Interns
- Interns are therapists still working toward licensure. They include “trainees,” who are in the later stages of graduate school, and “associates,” who have graduated and are gaining the experience necessary to sit for their licensing exam. Many interns have a strong background in human services, despite their newness to the licensing track. And most interns are passionately involved in self-reflection and continuing education to be the best therapists they can be.
Licensed with Masters Degrees
- Most therapists get their license after obtaining a masters degree in psychology or social work. These include LMFTs (marriage and family therapists), LCSWs (social workers), and LPCCs (professional clinical counselors).
Psychologists & Psychiatrists
- Psychologists have a PhD and often specialize in psychological testing or treatment of specific populations or disorders. Psychiatrists are medical doctors. They specialize in treating more severe mental illness. They are the only mental health practitioners capable of prescribing medication (and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners). While their training in medicine is thorough, their training in psychotherapy may represent a smaller portion of their graduate education.
Licensure can ensure that a therapist has some breadth of training and experience, but licensure is not enough. It is vital that therapists have their own practice of personal growth so that they can keep their personal issues out of the therapy.
How does payment affect my choice?
In our complicated health care system, choosing a therapist often involves understanding how payment works. Here are the options:
Self-Pay
- Most Shine a Light clients pay for their sessions out of their own pocket. This gives them the freedom to choose their therapist and negotiate the fee directly. Paperwork is minimal.
Medi-Cal Subscribers
- Shine a Light has some Medi-Cal providers. When one is available, there is no co-payment for your therapy. When no Medi-Cal providers are available, you can look elsewhere, or we can set you up with a therapist on a self-pay basis.
In-Network Private Insurance
- If you have insurance, you might have lower costs using a therapist who is “in-network” with your carrier. It depends upon your plan, including deductables and co-pays. In some cases, however, our sliding scale is more cost effective than using insurance. Shine a Light is not an “in-network” provider for any insurance company other than Medi-Cal.
Out-of-Network Private Insurance
- If you have out-of network benefits, please be aware that insurance companies often will not reimburse for services provided by an intern. So it is unlikely that an out-of network benefits claim will reimburse you for the costs of therapy at Shine a Light. Contact your insurance company to find out more.
More on Payments/Fees here.
To Request an Appointment at Shine a Light or NPCC, please fill out this form. Please note *We respond to inquiries Monday through Friday 8AM to 8PM. All inquiries we receive on the weekends or holidays will be processed the next business day. Thank you for your patience.
Appointment Request
New Office in San Francisco!
Shine a Light Counseling Center is please to merge with New Perspectives Center for Counseling. NPCC has been serving the San Francisco community for thirty years. Now NPCC is transitioning to become the San Francisco site for Shine a Light. NPCC will retain its name, character and history. For information about NPCC or counseling in San Francisco:
New Perspectives Center for Counseling
Emergency Contact
Shine a Light does not provide crisis services. If you have a mental health emergency, call 988 or 911. Or click here for more Crisis Resources
Telephone Contact
You can call Shine a Light at 831-996-1222, but we encourage you to use the email forms to the left. If you call, please leave the following:
- Phone number
- Preferred location
- Best times to meet
- Issue you want help with
- What insurance you have (if any)
FAX us at: 831-417-0443
Good Faith Estimate
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical care will cost. Your fee will be set according to a sliding scale, in collaboration with your therapist, prior to your first counseling session. Total costs depend upon the number of sessions you choose to utilize.
If you have private health insurance, please be aware that your costs for therapy may be less by using an in-network provider for your insurance company. This will depend upon your plan's deductible amounts and co-payments. In some cases, counseling at Shine a Light is less costly than using private insurance.
If you hope to use "out of network" benefits through your private insurance, please be aware that many plans will not reimburse for services provided by pre-licensed therapists (most of our staff).
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