Testimonials
Below please find questions I asked some of my previous clients and their responses:
If you believe that sessions with me have helped, please describe how and your view about what helped:
What did you appreciate about our sessions?
In your opinion, what is important for anyone to realize about themselves, others?
What is your opinion about what therapy should be? Should not be?
In your opinion, please list characteristics of effective and ineffective therapists:
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If you believe that sessions with me have helped, please describe how and your view about what helped:
I was in deep depression or like my life was in a cloud. My sessions with you lifted the cloud and helped my identify my issues and the root cause and gave me the tools to resolve them. T.S.
I think your work with us has been very helpful. We get great ideas about how to handle specific situations. As the adults, sometimes the way we deal with things will help our son's behavior change no matter what his problems are. S.B.
In particular she was able to understand the "staying in her lane" trigger phrase to help her know when she is becoming too controlling. This coupled with her medicine has helped her dramatically in school as she is interacting with her classmates. B.J.
It helped me open up to my wife and try to talk about things....I missed about 2 months of sessions, but I am doing fine..Nothing new. B.D.
Ultimately I do believe the sessions with you were helpful, your honesty and insight really helped me to except myself flaws and all. One of the best things you did for me in a time when I was just not sure, you showed me that I was mentally handling the trials in my life appropriately which gave me strength that I needed. It so easy to doubt yourself when people tell you that you should feel a certain way and you don't. It was so refreshing to hear that "I" have the right to feel, forgive and move forward even if others believed that I should harbor anger and resentment. Somehow this was extremely empowering for me. J.S.
Yes, these sessions have helped. Specifically, the enhanced broadened scope (perspective) for addressing conflicting issues instead of focusing upon the immediate or competitive effort. D.B.
What did you appreciate about our sessions?
Genuine. I felt a genuine concern to help PTSD victims. F. T.
We appreciate that we are given time to speak with you without our son. You do not criticize, but explain a different way to go about things. You let us know what his point of view is concerning what is going on, things he won't always tell us. K. P.
We greatly appreciate you including us in the sessions and describing how we can assist at home. Previous therapists seemed to be guarded about discussing this - one even acted as if she were favoring our child over us and began degrading us in front of our child. S. J.
The ease of saying what I have to say, and not being forced or tricked into it. B. S.
Philosophically I think we have a very similar view of the world and the human condition and your validation of that helped relieve some of the guilt that I was imposing upon myself. One of the nicest things about my time with you is that you follow up even when we do not have sessions. The emails asking how I am doing and the uplifting quotes set you apart from every therapist I have had in the past. You are genuine and really appreciate that about you. J.S.
I appreciated the flexibility of support for meeting times and genuine concern to establish a better family environment. Of concern is the disagreement upon PTSD from separate providers within the same profession. S.R.
In your opinion, what is important for anyone to realize about themselves, others?
You can't control outcomes.
That they can change for the better. That it is okay to fail, just learn from it and do better next time.
Answer: To understand who they are as a person - what motivates them, what interests them and mostly - to believe in themselves - self worth.
Realize they have a problem and try to get help
That it is human to error and before we can gain forgiveness and understanding from others we must forgive and understand ourselves.
That individual reaction and actions are the most important for positive (or negative) interaction with family members.
What is your opinion about what therapy should be? Should not be?
I have a positive opinion on this therapy. Don't change a thing. It is effective!!!
Therapy should be family inclusive if it deals with children. It should be back and forth. Therapy should not be something that makes people feel guilty, but it should be honest.
A nurturing environment focused on improving the life of the patient. It should not be an environment that exists only in the "chair" rather it needs to be able to reach out into their world outside of therapy.
Patient centered, yet honest and forthcoming. I do not believe a therapist should sugar coat and stroke the ego of their patients but should be empathetic and understanding. You were helpful in guiding me to recognizing the mistakes I was making and helped me to move forward.
I feel I am not really qualified to address this as each therapy session appears to be focused upon advances or regressions from the previous therapy. Thus would have to offer the opinion that the therapy should be variable in determining what works for individuals/couples and for what is not working.
In your opinion, please list characteristics of effective and ineffective therapists:
Caring, concerned, genuine, sincere, selfless, professional!!!! She is definitely a asset to her profession, her community and the people she helps!!!!
Effective therapists review background info so families don't have to start over, they listen and offer more than one option to try. They listen to the families goals and do not become frustrated when people get stuck on one step in the process.
Ineffective therapists place blame and think there is only one way that problems can be solved. They do not recognise the dynamics of individual families.
Effective: Excellent social cognizance, level-headed, well-versed in modern medicine, open, understanding of the struggles of both the patient and the people in their lives.
Ineffective: The opposite of what I listed above. For the most part - extreme view points (not within the generally accepted view points), biased and unwilling to understand how the behaviors of the patient affect those around them.
You are awesome and really down to earth. You don’t fake the funk and keep me level headed....ya I missed some appts but I know now when things get tough I need to seek help, and I do! You are f---ing awesome!
Empathy is paramount in all therapeutic relationships. Therapist's should be genuine and have a helping personality. They need to be a "real" human, and not act as if they are superior, all knowing, all powerful and rigid in their approach. Therapist should maintain unconditional positive regard for their patients at all times. Goal centered is also very important. It is important to let the patient be an active participant in the goal setting process because this creates a "buy in" making them more likely to work toward them. Thanks for everything J.S.
Effective; articulate, understanding, problem solving, objective, offers conflict resolution, empathetic, supportive, discrete, perceptive, diplomatic, motivated.
Ineffective; unsupportive and the opposite of those attributes listed above.
