Getting the Most out of Therapy
Episode Description
Unsure of whether your therapy is working for you? In this episode of “Mind Your Mind,” our host Tim Unsinn talks with Dakota Family Services therapist Lucas Mitzel about how to make your therapy sessions more productive. Making progress in therapy can often come down to simply having an open mind and a plan for discussion. Although each session can evoke a wide range of emotions, you should always leave feeling that some sort of movement has happened.What to Expect
- How to prepare for a therapy session
- Feelings to expect after therapy
- When and how to seek a therapist
Resources: Learn More
"Why You Shouldn't Be Ashamed of Going to Therapy" by Jenika Rufer
"The Power of Vulnerability" by Brene Brown
Help for Mental Illnesses (nimh.nih.gov)
Things to Think About
- If you aren't connecting with your therapist, find someone new
- Therapy should never leave you feeling worse afterward
- What do you want to work on with your therapist?
About the Guest
Lucas Mitzel provides therapy for children, adolescents, and adults, ages 5 - 30. He believes building relationships with clients is the most important piece of successful therapy. He loves what he does, because it allows him to walk next to people he would never have met had he chosen a different profession, as they work to make amazing life changes. He has the honor of meeting people at their worst, all while watching them grow into the people they’ve always wanted to be.
Transcript
Getting the Most out of Therapy
Featuring Lucas Mitzel, LCSW, Dakota Family Services
Host Tim Unsinn:
Welcome to Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services, an outpatient behavioral health clinic, located in Minot, Bismarck, and Fargo, North Dakota. In this podcast, I will talk with our experts about understanding and nurturing our mental health and wellness. I'm your host, Tim Unsinn. Join me each episode as we explore the intricacies of our minds, decrease the stigma of mental illness, learn practical tips for managing our mental health and well-being, and recognize when it's time to ask for help. Join me now to Mind Your Mind.
Host Tim Unsinn:
Welcome to this episode of Mind Your Mind. Our guest is Lucas Mitzel. Lucas is a therapist on the Fargo campus and provides outpatient therapy for children, adolescents, and young adults. Lucas, great to have you on Mind Your Mind. Our topic is how to get the most out of your therapy session. Before we get to today's topic, I would like you to share with us why you do what you do.
Lucas Mitzel:
Well, the reason I do what I do is I want to help people get to the best version of themselves they can be. Whether that be helping them have a productive therapy session, but just helping them achieve their goals and walking them through that.
Host Tim Unsinn:
Well, that's great. Well, today's topic is how to get the most out of our therapy session. What does a productive therapy session look like and is it different for everyone?
Lucas Mitzel:
Yeah, you know, that's a difficult question to narrow down because it's very subjective to the person. Overall, I mean, the simple answer is if you felt like it was productive, then it was productive. However, if you're coming with an open mind, you're willing to share what's going on, you're open to feedback and learning, you're gonna have a productive session. Therapy should look like two people talking openly and comfortably with one another about anything that might come to your mind. Many people have noted that it feels like they're talking to a longtime friend when they're in therapy. It's just, it's important that when you are in therapy, that you're just open about things and honest. And if you're doing that, you're gonna have a productive session.
Host Tim Unsinn:
And I'm guessing as you think about a therapy session or as you make an appointment, you schedule an appointment, there's gotta be some preparation ahead of that. So what do I need to do to prepare before going to therapy?
Lucas Mitzel:
Yeah, there's not a ton to prepare for when it comes to therapy. The biggest thing that you are going to want to do is make sure that you just have something that you want to discuss. Some people come with notebooks to take notes in. Most come empty handed. I've had some clients bring in documents for me to read from previous providers, but this really isn't necessary unless you feel like it is. The biggest thing, like I said, just come with what you want to talk about. Sometimes your therapist will have a plan as to what you guys might be talking about, but you'll probably be discussing that the session beforehand. But that will be a conversation that you and your therapist are having. So you're on board with that too. It's a plan that you guys come up [with] together because this is your therapy. We, we work for you, so we wanna make sure that you are getting the most out of it. And so the only thing that we ask for you is just you come with, like I said before, an open mind and you just come with something that you want to work on.
Host Tim Unsinn:
It does sound like a conversation with no wrong answers is what it kind of sounds like to me. So now I've gone to the session, I'm headed out the door. What does a productive session feel like?
Lucas Mitzel:
When you've had a really productive session, you're gonna have a mixture of feelings. I feel like when you leave my office, there should be a feeling of accomplishment that we've gone somewhere. You're gonna feel fatigued too. I mean, doing therapy, although you're just sitting there and you're chatting with somebody, it's hard work. And depending on what you're talking about, you might feel really tired afterwards and need to go take a nap. Sometimes you might leave therapy really pumped up and ready to go, just super motivated to go do whatever it is that you want to do. But you should never, ever leave feeling defeated, or like you are worse than when you came. You might feel, like I said, you might feel tired or drained, but you should leave feeling hopeful. If you don't feel like that, or that you're making movement in therapy, you need to have a conversation with your therapist. Because like I said, we work for you, and if you don't feel like there's any movement or improvement, we need to know this. There might be a disconnect or a miscommunication happening. You should always leave therapy feeling better or like there was just some sort of movement in some sort of direction.
Host Tim Unsinn:
Our guest on Mind Your Mind is Lucas Mizel. And Lucas, one question, this is probably like opening a can of worms, but you know, we talked about the therapy session and all those things. How do we know or when should we know we may need to talk with someone?
Lucas Mitzel:
Yeah, if you are experiencing distress in any way, if you are uncomfortable, if you have experienced any sort of trauma, or just things aren't going well, it could, it can be anything. There's nothing that's off limits in therapy. Or if you came to me and said, I want to talk about this, I'd be like, yeah, that's not for therapy. I've never had that problem. And so if you're just feeling like things just aren't going well and you want to just work on something with that or make things better, come to therapy, let's talk about it, let's see what we can do. It could be as simple as I wanna work out more and I struggle with motivation to do that. It could be as big as a really traumatic event happened to me and I I can't sleep anymore or I can't, whatever. So be a range of reasons, but ultimately I would say give it a shot. See what happens. And the biggest thing is therapy shop. We are all humans and so we don't always fit with everybody. And so if you visit with me and you're like, eh, maybe we don't connect as well, go find somebody else because there is somebody out there for you. And it's okay to therapy shop.
Host Tim Unsinn:
Alright. What about the pros and cons? I know moving to a new community, often as a family we will ask about doctors, chiropractors, dentists, things like that. Is that good, bad, asking friends around us? Who would you recommend?
Lucas Mitzel:
Yeah, that's how you typically will get referred to somebody as either through your doctor or through a friend. If you know somebody who's going to therapy and they really like their therapist, that's where I would start. You need to find people who like them and that's typically a good sign that they're good, you know? So yes, that's exactly, it's just like with anything else, any other sort of provider.
Host Tim Unsinn:
All right. Super. Lucas Mitzel is a therapist on the Fargo campus, provides outpatient therapy for children, adolescents, and young adults. Thank you so much for your time on Mind Your Mind. Last question before we wrap up and that is, what do you do personally to mind your mind?
Lucas Mitzel:
I try my best to make sure that I'm doing hobbies that I enjoy on a regular basis. It's really important to make sure that you do things that you find fun, that make you smile, that make you feel good. And I actively try to schedule those into my day because it's, life is busy, it sometimes can slip and it's just, it's very important for your mental health.
Host Tim Unsinn:
Thank you Lucas. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us.
Lucas Mitzel:
Yes. Thank you so much.
Host Tim Unsinn:
Thank you for joining us for Mind Your Mind, a podcast presented by Dakota Family Services. For more information, links to additional resources, contact information, and much more, go to dakotafamilyservices.org.
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