Maximizing Your Therapeutic Journey

As mental health providers, we intimately know the incredible power therapy can have in bettering people’s lives. That being said, in knowing its power, we are also aware of its limitations. If a person manages to get an average of eight hours of sleep a night, one hour-long  therapy session per week is only 0.89% of a person’s time. Though therapy is powerful, is a person is only attending to their mental health less than 1% of the week, they will not be able to read the full benefits of the work.

Here are some ways you can maximize your potential on your therapeutic journey.

Complete Your Therapy Homework

Quite often, our therapists assign homework to be completed outside of session. Completing the homework will enable you to build healthier habits and test out what you have learned in therapy. Talking to your therapist about how it went will allow them to make adjustments as needed to ensure you are on track to meet your therapeutic goals.

Sleep

Most adults require between seven and nine hours of sleep to be fully rested. Sleep can have a significant impact on both your physical and mental health. Ensuring that you get enough rest means that you will have the emotional energy to do the work that therapy requires. If you are experiencing chronic sleep issues, it could be beneficial to explore it further, such as by completing a sleep study.

Fitness

Exercise gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy. Consistently moving your body in whatever way is accessible and enjoyable to you will provide you with more energy and endorphins to better your overall mental well-being. In fact, exercise alone has been proven as an effective treatment for depression, so exercising in conjunction with therapy will lead to even further benefits.

Nutritional Counseling

More and more information about the way our eating habits affect our brain is being discovered every day. Stress can often cause people to under- or over-eat, neither of which will physically set bodies up for success. Working with a registered dietician will ensure you are getting the vitamins, nutrients, and fuel you need not just survive, but thrive.

Build Your Support Network

Humans are social creatures, and it is important for us to have people we can rely on. Loneliness has a significant negative impact on mental health symptoms, so building relationships that you can count on will only better your emotional health. Being consistent in your social engagement will stave off loneliness and allow you to feel comfort and belonging.

To learn more about how Compassionate Healing can be of assistance to you, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are currently accepting new patients for therapy sessions. Contact us today!

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