What is Individual Therapy?

Individual therapy (sometimes called “psychotherapy” or “counseling”) is a process through which clients work one-on-one with a trained therapist—in a safe, caring, and confidential environment—to explore their feelings, beliefs, or behaviors, work through challenging or influential memories, identify aspects of their lives that they would like to change, better understand themselves and others, set personal goals, and work toward desired change.

People seek therapy for a wide variety of reasons, from coping with major life challenges or childhood trauma, to dealing with depression or anxiety, to simply desiring personal growth and greater self-knowledge. A client and therapist may work together for as few as five or six sessions or as long as several years, depending on the client’s unique needs and personal goals for therapy.

How do I get started?

Your first step is to call us to schedule your initial appointment with one of our graduate-level therapists. That first session (which generally lasts approximately two hours) provides an opportunity for you to build rapport with the therapist and provide him/her with some background about yourself and the reasons you are seeking counseling.

At the end of that first session, if you decide that you would like to move forward working with the assigned therapist, you will discuss fees and then decide on a mutually-agreeable time slot for your therapy sessions (typically, the client and therapist will meet once a week, and each session will last approximately one hour). At your second appointment, you will begin working with your therapist to set goals for your therapy experience and then begin working together toward achieving them.

To schedule a free consultation, call (310) 208-3120 3120 for Westwood or (949) 737-5460 for Irvine.