Before I started seeing Lauren, I didn’t know what to think about therapy. I think I mainly thought of it more in a negative way vs a positive thing. I had known people that had done it before, but I mainly thought it was for people who suffered depression or had parents who went through a divorce etc. However, when I had my first session with Lauren, I quickly learned seeking therapy was much more than that. She was an unbiased friend who I was able to share all my thoughts, feelings, secrets and insecurities with without judgment. Lauren was so approachable and welcoming, it put me at ease the first time I went to see her and made me want to open up to her. At the time, it was a few months after I had broken up with my boyfriend who had said some damaging things to me and about me. I had completely shut out emotions, felt broken in many ways, and just hadn’t been myself in a while. I went into the session expecting to just talk about that relationship, but after opening up, there ended up being so many underlying issues that I realized I had never really dealt with.

Two of the best things I gained from my time with Lauren was validation of my feelings and saying “I feel that” instead of “You did this”. I never really understood how important it was to feel validated in my feelings. Yes, we all feel different things, and Lauren never judged what I was feeling or told me what I was feeling was wrong. She always validated my thoughts and even if they weren’t always the best, instead of just giving me her opinion, she worked with me to think of other point of views to the situation, how we could come to a solution, and what I’d like to accomplish. While working with Lauren, I felt my self-confidence grow and I believe I was able to become a better version of myself. She was even willing to Facetime me when I went away to school again, which was extremely helpful. During my time in therapy I also better repaired my relationship with my mom and dealt with many issues I didn’t even know were really bothering me. Since then, I have taken a lot of the techniques I used in my time in therapy into my everyday relationship, which has really helped me grow.