What therapy is (and what it’s not): A person-centered approach to healing
If you’re considering therapy for the first time—or maybe returning after some time away—you might be wondering what to expect. You may have heard conflicting things: that therapy is about “fixing” you, giving you tools, or just having someone silently nod across from you while you talk.
But that’s not what therapy really is, at least not in the way I practice it.
As a therapist rooted in person-centered approaches, I’d like to offer a clearer picture. Therapy is not about changing who you are. It’s about coming home to who you’ve always been, often in the presence of someone who can truly see you.
Therapy Is Not About Fixing You
You might feel like something is broken. Like too much has gone wrong. Like something deep inside needs to be repaired. This is such a human feeling—and it's okay if that’s where you’re starting.
But therapy is not about fixing you because you are not broken.
You are responding to life, to pain, to old wounds, to systems and relationships that maybe didn’t hold you, see you, or hear you the way you needed. The goal of therapy isn’t to erase your pain or to turn you into someone else—it’s to create a safe enough space where you can begin to understand your story, your patterns, your self… and to know that you are worthy of being witnessed exactly as you are.
What Happens in Therapy Isn’t Just About “Tools”
You may be wondering: Will I get coping skills? Will I learn strategies to feel better?
Yes—tools and skills can emerge. But that’s not the heart of therapy.
What actually transforms people in therapy is the relationship itself.
It’s what happens between us. It’s sitting across from someone who doesn’t pathologize you, who doesn’t just analyze you or passively listen—but who goes into the dark, scary places with you. Who stays beside you when it’s hard. Who helps you find your way, not by leading, but by being with.
This relationship can be the first experience some people ever have of being truly seen, truly accepted.
Therapy Is a Place to Learn How to Feel Safe in Yourself
Ultimately, what we’re doing in therapy is not just understanding your past or learning how to cope. We’re creating a space where you can:
Begin to trust your own inner experience
Learn to be with your feelings without fear
Discover that you are not too much
Explore what it means to be accepted exactly as you are
Find a kind of safety that lives inside you, even in a scary world
This is the deep work. The slow, brave, beautiful work.
What to Expect in Your First Session
Your first time in therapy might feel tender. Vulnerable. You don’t have to know what to say. There’s no pressure to tell your whole story right away. We move at your pace.
It might feel like walking into a forest you’ve avoided for years. But here’s the thing: you are holding the flashlight. I’m not dragging you anywhere. I’m not giving you a map and telling you where to go.
I’m walking beside you. Listening. Reflecting. Holding space. And when you feel ready, we go deeper.
You’re not alone in it—but you’re the one in charge.
Therapy is a journey into wholeness
So no—therapy is not about fixing you.
It’s not about tools alone.
It’s not about advice, or diagnoses, or someone telling you what’s wrong with you.
Therapy—when grounded in human connection and radical acceptance—is about stepping into the truth of who you are, with a witness by your side. A good therapist doesn’t just sit there. They journey with you. They care. They stay.
And along the way, you begin to realize that what you thought needed to be fixed… maybe just needed to be felt. To be named. To be seen.
Interested in starting your own journey?
I’d be honored to walk beside you.
Let’s begin, together.
