Therapy is not a Race.

By Oluwatomi Peters,        

Psychotherapist 

You don't have to tell your entire trauma story on the first day of therapy.

You don't have to sit down and explain everything that has ever happened to you.

You don't have to share details you're not ready to talk about.

And you don't have to force yourself to relive painful experiences just because you're finally in therapy.

Therapy is not a race.

A good therapeutic relationship takes time to build.

Your first session can simply be about getting to know your therapist, talking about what brought you to therapy, discussing what you're struggling with now, and deciding what you hope to work on.

You can say:

"I'm not ready to talk about that yet."

"I don't know how to explain it."

"I know something happened, but I'm not ready to go into the details."

And that's okay.

You are allowed to set the pace.

Sometimes, healing begins with simply feeling safe enough to say:

"I'm not ready to talk about this yet."

You don't have to tell your whole story before you deserve support.

You can take it one conversation at a time.