For most people, counseling will not be a constant or forever focus. Often a client will come to therapy for a specific need and once they feel this need has been worked through and they are doing well, they will end their counseling time.
That is not to say that a client will not seek another season with their therapist if another concern comes up or they feel they need further help with the current concern or issue they are experiencing.
A client can also take a break from seeing their therapist to work on the skills and tools they have learned in therapy. During that time, they may do a check in session every once in a while, to share the progress they are making or to discuss new developments in their life.
How will a client know when they are ready to be done with their current sessions?
Talk with Your Therapist.
That is a great question to be discussing with your therapist. Often you and your therapist will have developed some goals to be working on during your sessions. Taking the time to review these goals and the progress you have made is a great way to start this discussion.
There are a couple different ways a therapist may work with their client when determining if the client is feeling ready to stop therapy in this season.
Miracle Question:
One way to begin this process of evaluation is to think about your life as if you have been given a miracle of everything being just like you would want it to be. All your problems have been addressed and are resolved.
What would your life look like? Begin to think about how you would like your life. Some questions to ask yourself would be:
- What would your everyday life look like without the struggles?
- What would your relationships look like?
- What would your job look like?
- What would your future look like?
Progress.
After looking at where you would like your life to be, it is time to reflect the progress you have made in therapy. Which of the concerns you came into therapy for are causing you to struggle with moving forward to the life you are dreaming about?
If you have resolved the concerns or issues you started therapy with, then it may be time to continue to practice those skills and work towards your goals without the help of your counselor, always remembering that you can schedule a follow up appointment if needed.
Goals.
When you first met with your therapist you would have discussed why you were seeking counseling and then made some measurable goals to work on. Taking a look back at those goals can be a good way to decide if you are ready to continue to work on the life you want moving forward without your 
counseling sessions:
- What goals did you make for yourself when you began your sessions with your therapist?
- What progress have you made towards the life you want?
- Have you seen your growth and celebrated the progress and success you have had?
- Do you think you can take the tools you have learned and use them in other areas?
- What motivation do you have to keep moving forward?
This is only a couple of ways to start to think about when you may be ready to end your season of counseling. This is not something you need to decide on your own. Your counselor will be an integral part of helping you make this decision.
Completing a season of counseling can be is a time to celebrate your hard work and successes. It does not need to be consider an end to counseling. If a need arises, you can always reach out to your therapist and schedule a session to check in and if needed you can begin seeing your therapist again to work through new challenges or revisit a past concern.
Our therapists love to celebrate with clients when they are done with a season of therapy. Knowing they have helped their clients work through and move forward in their goals is a success they hope for all their clients. For more information on our therapists please see https://upstaterestorativecounseling.com/about/