Therapy isn鈥檛 only for people experiencing mental health issues or with a diagnosis. It鈥檚 a powerful tool for navigating, understanding and coping with life and its many challenges.
Your therapist can support you through bereavement, relationships, work and family difficulties. They can also help you to stay mentally healthy, grow and thrive.
Accredited therapist and coach says: 鈥淚'm a firm believer in working with the person and not the label. People might be struggling with an aspect of their life or feel stuck or experiencing a difficult life situation or life transition and I support them through it.鈥�
In this article, some of our members look at how therapy can support you in a range of ways 鈥� and how it can help you to be the best version of yourself.
Therapy can help you to鈥�
See things differently
Indira says: 鈥淲e find ourselves on the treadmill of life and busier than ever. Therapy offers an emotional massage and chance to pause and take a breath and explore creative ideas about what we want to be doing rather than what society tells us we 'should' be doing. I help clients to draw back and see the bigger picture; to re-frame and see things differently and in ways that affords them, a more resourceful position.鈥�
Be truly heard and held in someone else鈥檚 mind
Sumeet Grover explains: 鈥淪ome people have never had the experience of being deeply heard, for their feelings and thoughts to be validated by someone, and for these to be held in someone鈥檚 mind and be thought about by the other. This is a human need that we all have through the course of our lives, and it contributes to our self-esteem and a sense of connectedness, among other things.
He adds: 鈥淚n my work with clients, my role is to make space for the full spectrum of their experience to be listened to, acknowledged, and to meet them with kindness and empathy.鈥�
Organise your thoughts so you can process and understand them
says: 鈥淚f you imagine trying to pack away a game of jenga 鈥� if you put the blocks in haphazardly, then you may find that they overfill the box. However, if you stack the blocks in an organised and intentional way, the box fits the jenga set in perfectly. I use this metaphor about how therapy can help organise our thoughts: sometimes a solution may not be achievable, but talking about a problem, and experiencing someone else being alongside you, can help to process and give a sense of understanding.鈥�
Search for direction and meaning
Sumeet adds: 鈥淪ometimes people come to therapy when what is familiar 鈥� their job or intimate relationships 鈥� no longer feels fulfilling, and they are in search of a new direction in life, or to discover a deeper meaning.鈥�
He highlights how therapy can help people discover what does feel fulfilling for them 鈥� as well as understand the relationships they have that give them a sense of fulfilment.
Build your confidence
Therapy can help you understand the roots of your lack of confidence and low self-esteem. It can help you to identify and challenge negative thought patterns and shift them into something more positive.
Indira says: 鈥淚 help clients to pick themselves up off the floor and build themselves back up and regain and reclaim their confidence.鈥�
Discover the positives in life
Sometimes when people are facing challenging situations, it鈥檚 hard for them see positives in their life.
Amanda, who works with children and young people, said: 鈥淗aving the space to share successes and achievements, no matter how big or small, can be incredibly helpful, as it helps to draw out attention to the good things.鈥�
She says that therapy can provide clients the opportunity to 鈥渘otice what is going well, and perhaps consider if there are ways to replicate that in other areas.鈥�
Find your true self
Sumeet describes how therapy can be an opportunity to find your true self, especially if you鈥檝e grown up feeling different to others.
Using the example of gay men, he says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a challenging experience to grow up with a sense of being different to other boys, combined with the subtle nuances of homophobia that still exists across different layers of society. This homophobia, along with heteronormative gender expectations, is often internalised by gay men, bringing them in conflict with their true self, which was forbidden, and had to be hidden.
鈥淭herapy can be a space for gay men to get to discover their true self, and get a deeper understanding of how these experiences shape them, along with a space for them to discover their unique sense of identity and expression as a man.鈥�
Address feeling 鈥榮tuck鈥� and unfulfilled at work
Your job and workplace can have a huge impact on your wellbeing.
says: 鈥淢any clients come to therapy feeling stuck, uninspired, or unsure whether to stay or go - even if they鈥檙e successful on paper.鈥�
She describes how through therapy they can explore their unconscious beliefs about success, worth or failure, understand more about their worth and where they鈥檝e learned that from.
She adds how she works with clients to explore the 鈥榲isualisation of future roles that feel energising and authentic.鈥�
Explore your multicultural identity
Sumeet says that if your life is embedded in more than one culture, therapy can help you to discover your identity and incorporate the full range of your cultural influences into it.
He adds: 鈥淭herapy can help such people make sense of cultural norms and practices, and for them to discover their own unique ways of adapting to or responding to these, without the feelings of shame, isolation or rejection.鈥�
Cope with life transitions
Changes - such as retirement, moving abroad, becoming a parent, changing career 鈥� can trigger a host of unexpected emotional responses.
Nicola says: 鈥淩etirement often brings a sense of disorientation - loss of role, purpose, or structure - even if it was planned and welcomed.鈥� She adds: 鈥淓ven a longed-for move abroad can trigger grief, identity shifts, or cultural disconnection.鈥�
She describes how clients explore through therapy feeling of grief, identity and its reconstruction, their beliefs and how they can reconnect with parts of their self that may have been sidelined. 聽
To find a therapist who can help you visit our Therapist Directory.