Therapy Can Be Short Term: Community Should Be Long Term!
Mirror Pond Counseling serves everyday adults who have real life problems, but are not looking to be in therapy endlessly. Individual therapy is designed to come to an end, so you can use that hour of your week toward something fun, productive, and connect with people in your life who you love dearly. Individual therapy that goes on and on can become harmful, by fixating on the problem.
A healthy therapeutic relationship is when therapeutic goals are so clear, when achieved, clients are discharged. A few examples are EMDR and our Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy programs that both include yoga integration within community groups (MPC clients are able to charge insurance for specific groups).
EMDR therapy is a great model because there is a clear target within the brain networks that we are working toward. After intake and assessment, we begin creating this target by searching for one key memory, without having to hash and rehash details about traumas. Just the headlines and then go directly into the protocols. Our job as therapists is to help pinpoint that one brain network, and guide you through the protocol.
Situations like car accident, flight phobia, the death of an animal, a rough breakup, medical trauma, or addiction to cigarettes, can be wonderful targets that should not take months to process. The brain is increidbly adaptive, which is why EMDR therapy gets results quicker than opening it up and talking about it or closing it down taking anti-depressants. With EMDR, its opened up for a brief moment and neutralized.
The length of treatment to process one target depends on how early the memory is. It can take 2-6 months to work on one target and then discharge from therapy. A good therapist will open up that memory gently, process it through via EMDR or DBR, then take steps to reflect on learnings and what’s changed after therapy. We make sure the traumatic stimuli is neutralized, so you can go enjoy your life. You can always come back later with a new goal.
When it comes to sitting with medicine, intention setting should clearly outline what you are looking to change in your life so you know when you’ve gotten the results you wanted. As you sit in ceremony, your brain is opened up. Integration is key to ground the learnings so that you can celebrate your wins, be done with that piece of work, and move on with your life doing art and making friends.
We don’t believe in keeping people in therapy forever. Most importantly, we believe that sacred community space is what should be an ongoing practice. That is why Mirror Pond Counseling is proud to partner with Stillwater Yoga & Wellness in Bend. We offer our therapy clients an ongoing space to connect with others and learn embodiment practices. Our yoga integration offerings are specific to groups of people who are walking a similar path. These groups are communities that can deepen over years and blossom into life long friendships and support systems.
Kimberly Drew, MA, LPC
