California Therapy

California Therapy Psychological services near Perth, Western Australia What if everything you did made you feel exactly the way you want to feel? Just sayin'. xo
f.

What if you could experience that every day? What if you let go of what doesn't serve you, and what holds you back? It's yours if you want it.

16/07/2024

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01/07/2024

Homework in Therapy, Part 2.

So you’ve been told to track your moods or your sleep. Or to use a journal to express emotions or gratitudes. Or maybe you’ve been advised to meditate ten minutes every day.

Why?

In this post, I’ll address journaling.

The aim here in the “discovery” phase is to learn more about you and how you function. If we can identify more about what makes you tick, we can work with it to create change. Journaling is a more fluid and open-ended approach to this, though in some cases can be quite structured, for example if you’re asked to journal about specific events, emotions, or memories.

In the “practice” phase, we use journaling to continue to monitor progress and improvement, but also to motivate and increase future-focused thinking. This helps you stay on track for your desires and dreams.

But what if you hate writing, or struggle with it, or remember that time your mum found your childhood diary and read it?

There are lots of ways to journal, depending on what we’re trying to do. We can use audio or video journaling formats, or dictation on a device for a written format. We can use tracking diaries and materials to provide prompts, or simple checkboxes to monitor moods and sliding scales to mark progress. If you need another option to your typical notebook and pen, there’s an app for that, and likely a therapist who has thought of an alternative.

All you have to do is speak up! And isn’t that why you’re here?

Until next time, keep the faith,
Eff.

Homework in Therapy, Part 1.Coming to therapy is usually about a desire for change. When we get to talk to another who ...
24/06/2024

Homework in Therapy, Part 1.

Coming to therapy is usually about a desire for change. When we get to talk to another who is without judgement, we get to speak our truth and lean into who and what we wish to be.

If that’s the only time you give, just that hour each week or fortnight, it’s likely going to take you several years to change.

This is why I give homework. And I give lots and lots of homework each time, mostly to see what sticks and works for you, always with the caveat that it’s up to you what you do, and please don’t do It all. :) I’ll say more on that in another post.

For now, I want to describe the two kinds of homework I’ll give to you: they are “discovery”, and ”practice”.

It’s just what it sounds like. We need to spend time “discovering“ what’s true for you, what works for you, what scares you, what triggers you, what brings you joy, what holds meaning to you, what you long for, and all sorts of “what”. This sometimes involves memories and recollections as well.

”Practice“ homework is what we do to implement new skills, new ways of being, thinking, feeling, talking, behaving, showing up, etc. This is the key to becoming and solidifying your change.

While we do some simultaneously, we have to focus on discovery to get to the heart of what we need to practice. At the same time, some practices will help you discover (something like, say, journal keeping, or meditation, can be both).

So the point, or TLDR: if you want to achieve your changes more quickly and deeply, do your therapy homework! :)

Stay tuned for Part 2, when I talk about how to do the homework, and why I assign certain activities.

Holding hope and keeping the Faith,
Eff.

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