Why Therapy?

Hey Sunnies,

People always ask me why I go to therapy and what’s so great about it? Well, therapy has many pros. There are some cons and we’ll discuss those too. However, all in all, therapy is the best thing that happened to me. My first experience with therapy was group family therapy. My senior year in high school, I told my mom I was not comfortable leaving our household until we got some professional help. My dad’s alcoholism was the worst it had ever been and things were crazy. She agreed and found someone for us. Next thing I knew, we were in family group therapy. The therapist focused on the fact that healing from alcoholism was a group activity and it ended when our therapist said the next step was rehab and my dad was not going for it.

Fast forward to my freshman year of college my friend was murdered at Bethune Cookman University. I just about lost it with that one. It was my first death that wasn’t just close in familial proximity but close to my heart. I took myself to the crisis center on Howard University's campus and began therapy with a pleasant white man lol. I describe him as pleasant because that is who he was. He would sit there and listen and let me talk for hours. There wasn’t much feedback, just enough that I knew he was really listening. He was good for what I needed at the time. Someone to talk through my grief with. Someone that would lead me in understanding that grief isn’t linear and sometimes it comes with a lot of other feelings too.

My current experience in therapy is quite different than the ones prior. I have a fearless and kind Black woman who keeps it real for real lol. She is the best! I never knew what it meant to have tangible goals in therapy, to talk about the kinds of conversations you want to have and the kind of forgiveness you want to extend to yourself and to others. I never knew what it meant to learn skills and exercises to take good care of yourself. Man oh man, my therapist is like that like that! When people would ask me years ago, “Why therapy?” I would tell them it is a set time every week to work on you. But now, when people ask me, “Why Therapy?” I tell them it is an opportunity to learn how to take better care of yourself and have more meaningful connections with those around you. And, in my experience, it has done just that!

I can’t say this enough, please find a good therapist. Not just someone who lets you talk and tells you what you need to do. But someone who is invested in your growth and seeing you do life better and deeper and bigger. I told y’all we would discuss cons so let’s do that now. Sometimes finding a therapist can feel like running a triathlon. And then when you get on their couch you feel like, all thattttt, for this! That can be discouraging and depressing. Don’t let those shitty therapist deter you. You will find your match. Well, I love y’all man! Don’t forget to subscribe on the home page and follow us on instagram @thesunflowerfactory!

forever blooming,

Mikaela Amira