What exactly is individual therapy? As an umbrella term for one type of mental health support, this one-on-one therapeutic offering encompasses a large range of treatment shapes and styles. Let’s explore the different types of individual therapy you may encounter, who will benefit and why it’s worth considering individual therapy as a part of your holistic recovery.
Just the two of us
Individual therapy is, in the simplest of definitions, any service you receive that’s direct work between yourself and a professional therapist. In this format, you’ll be the sole focus of expert attention to isolate and navigate the struggles currently at the center of your need to heal. This is uniquely empowering for those new to therapy, or who are still trying to untangle the events that led you to where you are right now. Much like trauma, healing is often not a linear path. Individual therapy gives you the space to breathe into your tangled past and sort through them with a guiding hand of focused support to achieve the healing you crave.
Putting yourself first
When you’re the only one participating, it’s difficult to focus on someone else. Individual therapy is a case study in doing just that: centering your experiences and emotions in the way you live and finding ways to make that align with the way you want to heal. If you are struggling to focus on your own thoughts and feelings, or to isolate them from other input, individual therapy offers a unique opportunity to re-center.
One and many
While the central theme of individual therapy is the direct relationship you’ll have with your therapist as well as your healing, there are many ways to go about navigating it. Individual therapy can be formulated around any of the central theories of counseling. The shape it can take is nearly as limitless as the sand on the beach, and each approach can be shaped and molded to exactly what you need.
The most common form of individual therapy is cognitive behavioral therapy, abbreviated as CBT and most often known as talk therapy. In this format, the conversation focuses around the experiences and emotions that currently form your headspace. As you work together to draw connections between those things, your therapist will help you to develop new tools to cope with anything that’s holding you back so you can be an active part of the work you do to overcome your trauma.
Curated healing
One of the most unique benefits of individual therapy is the ability to combine a number of theories and therapeutic practices to curate an experience that benefits you, specifically. Many of the theories that inform the practice of psychotherapy are based on narrow fields of research focused on one area of development or healing.
When working with a client one on one, your therapist has the opportunity to take what works and discard what doesn’t so that you get the most personalized healing possible. We can combine modalities like EMDR directly with more personally applied healing like mindfulness or art to give you exactly what you need to feel grounded. These combined therapy methods will ensure you the best possible chance of engaging with a multitude of opportunities for healing in a holistic manner instead of parting them out to be cared for separately.
Group Sessions Build on Individual Therapy
The value of having others to validate and normalize what you feel or have experienced can be priceless. A sense of community can be the difference between healing and thriving at any stage of recovery, so even for those who value the one-on-one support of individual therapy, seeking out group support is invaluable.
Villa Kali Ma has a myriad of offerings for group therapeutic sessions that complement the work accomplished in individual therapy. Shared therapeutic settings will play off the insights gained when processing with your primary therapist. You’ll find that even when you’re focused on your own healing, you can find the balance between your shared and solitary jouney. Working in this harmonious fashion will allow you to garner every benefit from the range of individual therapies without truly sacrificing the irreplaceable experience of shared healing.
No matter the way you best learn or access your healing, there is an individual therapy offering for you. Your clinical and holistic team will meet you one on one for walks and talks, or guide you through a more active modality like yoga or breath work. Elements from the things you’re passionate about and the healing you’re looking for are sure to blend beautifully under the curated care of our expert treatment team.
At Villa Kali Ma, we offer a myriad of individual therapy services that are offered independently or in tandem with group and network healing therapies to get you on a path toward your own bliss.
