How We Work
The Healing Tree Psychology and Wellness Centre team helps you heal with a treatment approach that is designed just for you. Together, we explore what brought you to us in the first place, discuss where you want to go, and determine how best to get there. Our approach is flexible, so that if your goals change, so does our work together. We provide you with a warm, supportive atmosphere, which allows us to do our best work together.
Initial contact… a phone call or email. The initial contact allows us to understand your problem areas and your particular needs, and determine whether we are the right place for you. It also allows you to ask us any questions you may have. Based on the outcome, we then decide whether an initial appointment should be scheduled and which of our professionals is the best fit for you. We make every effort to accommodate your requirements.
Before the first appointment, we will send you a client welcome package which includes a confirmation email and an intake form. It will provide you with some basic information about our policies, and will help prepare you for our work together. There will be some forms to fill out, which will streamline the administrative process and save you time during the first session.
During the first appointment, your therapist will conduct an intake interview. You will be asked a series of questions so that we may find out more about you and your background. This interview may take one to three sessions, and is designed to help us understand you better and to help us decide how our work should proceed. We will also ask you what you hope to get out of our work together, and together we will establish some preliminary treatment goals. This is also a good time for you to ask us questions.
The first phase of therapy is a getting-to-know-you process. We probably won’t spend much time talking about your specific struggles, since the focus will be on exploring some of the issues that contribute to how you got to where you are in your emotional, psychological and social state. After about a month or so, the core issues will start to emerge and we can begin the next phase of therapy.
The following phase of psychotherapy focuses on understanding the struggles and patterns. This process involves an in-depth exploration and identification of your emotional and psychological ailments, including past and present ones, with others and yourself. This also entails becoming aware of your emotional, cognitive and behavioural involvement, and recognizing what they are demonstrating.
The following phase of psychotherapy focuses on working through the core issues at hand. This may involve healing past hurts, facing difficult thoughts and feelings about yourself or others, developing new skills, learning to cope with difficult situations in your life, or changing some unhelpful beliefs that you hold about yourself. Each session is devoted to what you feel is most important for you to talk about, and your therapist will guide the discussion with questions and statements to help clarify your thoughts and feelings. This is where you may start feeling worse before you feel better…but just remember that it does get better. By this point, you’ll be ready to tackle your emotional pain and fears. This is also the phase where your therapist will teach you new skills to better manage what does come up; from emotion regulation skills to communication skills, developing healthy habits and practices to support your well-being is critical to lasting change.
The last phase of therapy will help you decide how to achieve fulfillment in your life. Perhaps you’ll have already made some great changes in your life, or maybe you’re not sure where to go next. Together, we’ll explore your unique talents, strengths and dreams to help you create a life filled with meaning, purpose and satisfaction. With renewed strength and purpose, you’ll have the emotional skills and resources to focus on developing a healthier life and a healthier you.