Tansiting from one stage of life to another, developing a career, developing an identity, getting into a serious relationship, starting a family, parenting children, taking care of elderly parents are all pressures of our life. This can be a stressful process and you might need someone who can listen, understand and encourage, or you might need someone to help you find new insights and manage these challenges more effectively.

Having supportive friends and family is helpful. However, there are times when difficult situations can persist over long periods or past experiences prevent you from moving ahead. This can lead to serious consequences and professional help might be required.

The concerns that you might have could include:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Trauma
• Break-ups
• Loss
• Grief
• Emotional pain
• Self-harm
• Suicidal tendencies
• Identity crisis
• Study/work pressure
• Parenting issues
• Coping with medical conditions
• Handling the stress of taking care of elderly parents or someone with special needs

Link & Relate offers psychotherapy for individuals to overcome difficulties in life and experience an improved sense of well-being.

What is Psychotherapy?

The goal of therapy is to improve mental health and treat psychological conditions that cause stress and distress so that you can enjoy a better quality of life. By providing an open and non-judgemental context, you can explore deeper issues in the safety of a therapeutic environment. This will help you make the changes you need towards a positive outcome.

What to expect initially?

The first two to four sessions is the clinical assessment phase and focuses on your concerns and obtaining sufficient information to understand the causes of the difficulties. This is done using an interviewing method as well as paper-pencil questionnaires, if appropriate. At the end of the clinical assessment phase, we will discuss the recommendations for therapy. The therapeutic approach selected will be drawn from a variety of approaches and is specific to you and the situation presented.

Therapeutic approaches available include:

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Gestalt Therapy
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Structural Dissociation of Personality
• Internal Family Systems
• Expressive Therapies (using sandtray, art, clay)
• Motivational Interviewing
• Christianity-based Counselling

What to expect progressively?

Therapy is a process that requires your active participation. For various reasons, some people need more sessions than others before starting to feel better. While therapy has significant benefits, there are also possible risks as the process often involves revisiting unpleasant aspects of your life and experiencing uncomfortable feelings. Sometimes, family members may also feel somewhat disoriented as a result of the changes they experience in you. Therefore, taking the step to seek therapy often requires courage and perseverance. For those who persevere through therapy, it often leads to better relationships, enhanced ability to problem solve and an improved sense of wellbeing.

For therapy to be successful, it is also important that you feel connected with your therapist. While it takes time to build a trusting relationship, your sense of connection with your therapist should improve with time. If not, you need to speak to the therapist about it and request for a referral, if need.

If you sense that psychotherapy may be helpful for you, take courage and make an appointment. The journey can only begin if you take the first step.