Therapy can be a strange thing when just getting started.

You’re in a new place, talking to a stranger about personal, deep issues that are going on in your life. The same is true whether your an adult, teenager or child — whether you’re working through issues with someone else or on your own.

Think about new and sometimes scary experiences in your life: going through puberty, your first heartbreak, living on your own for the first time. Think about the pressure you felt from your family to do well, or better yet, think about the pressure you put on yourself.

When you’re sitting on my couch, that’s the time for these things to feel less scary, less overwhelming and, when you leave, more manageable.

My goal is to help you reach yours.

Most of the time, we’ll talk about your week or your weekend. We’ll talk about what happened or what didn’t happen. And then before you know it, we’re talking about how you want your life to get better, or how you want to feel better. How you want other people to see you. We’ll get to all the things that initially felt so weird to talk about.

I don’t have a magic wand.

I wish I did – that would be amazing! Therapy isn’t magic.

Think about how long you felt like you’ve been dealing with the things going on right now. Think about how long you’ve been feeling this way.

Therapy isn’t going to take that long, but it will take time. Think about therapy as an awesome journey, a ride that you’re on for all the twists, and turns, and hills. When you get to the end, you’re amazed about how much you accomplished.

Therapy is exactly what you make it.

Let’s make it something that challenges you to be the best person you are, the person you want to be.

Let’s make it a time when we sort through all those confusing messages in your brain, those feelings that you aren’t sure you want to feel anymore.

Let’s make it a time when you love yourself and your family again.