We are a neurodivergence-affirming service, if you would like to learn how, click here.
Psychologists understand that good therapy involves creating a personalised approach that suits your individual needs and preferences. This means that the therapy respects what you want to work towards. Good therapy should not only involve developing tools to help you manage life’s challenges, but you should feel capable to use those tools as well.
At J&A Psychology, we want to show you the systems and tools we use to work alongside you in creating your individualised therapy approach – just like a tailor uses specialized tools to create a custom piece of clothing.
With our help, you can feel confident that you’re getting the most out of therapy and making progress towards your goals. Don’t settle for a one-size-fits-all approach – choose J&A Psychology and experience the benefits of personalized therapy.
At J&A Psychology we tailor therapy to fit you
Understanding your therapy preferences
Please note that the following tools are completely optional, if you rather they not be used when undertaking therapy with us, then they can be removed from your therapy approach.
Before your first session, you’ll have the option to complete the Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP). This questionnaire asks 18 questions to measure your preferences in therapy, such as whether you prefer to focus on the past or present.
Whether you already have a clear idea of how you want therapy to work, or you need some help to figure out your preferences, we are here to partner with you and create a personalized approach that works for you.
Ensuring that your well-being improves, not just your ‘symptoms’
When we walk into a therapist’s office, we often come in with a laundry list of symptoms and challenges that we want to address – anxiety, stress, depression, and the like. While addressing such challenges is important, it’s just as important to ensure that therapy also helps your life and well-being improves.
To help monitor your well-being throughout therapy, we use what’s called the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS), at every session, ensuring that the therapy is truly helping you thrive. If the ORS shows that your well-being is increasing, then it means you’re making progress. If however the ORS indicates that you’re not progressing as well as we’d hoped, we won’t waste any time in pivoting the therapy approach with you or linking you up with additional resources. Because at the end of the day, our goal is to help you achieve your best life possible – and that’s a goal worth striving for.
Keeping an eye on the compass of your therapy
We also take a proactive approach to keep your goals and preferences top of mind throughout the therapy process.
Before each session, your psychologist will review your therapy goals and preferences, so they stay fresh in mind. During the session, they will work with you to determine whether you want to continue with your current goal, such as learning a coping skill for anxiety, or shift your focus to something else.
By doing this, we ensure that you don’t lose sight of what you want to get out of therapy. This approach is to help keep you engaged and motivated, leading to more effective and satisfying therapy sessions.
Being data-driven in keep track of your therapy goals
At each therapy session, we will help ensure that your therapy goals are not a matter of ‘set and forget’, but that we’re also actively working towards achieving those goals by measuring your progress along the way.
To do this, we may suggest using a 0-9 scale to represent your progress. For example, if your goal is to connect more to what matters most in your life. An example scale for monitoring progress in connecting to values can be seen below.
Using scales like this helps you stay engaged and motivated, while also giving valuable insights into how well you’re progressing. With this information your therapy approach can be adjusted, as needed, to help you reach your goals more effectively.
We offer the use of Google Forms to track your progress in therapy. This can then be displayed visually, such as graphs like the one below.
Monitoring your therapy experience
When it comes to therapy, finding the right therapist and approach that you click with can make all the difference.
At our therapy sessions, we don’t take your comfort and fit with the therapy approach for granted. We believe that every client’s insights are valuable, and that’s why we conduct regular ‘check-ins’ during each session using a short number of scales. This way, we can gather feedback and gauge whether the therapy approach can be improved further.
These check-ins can occur at the beginning or end of each session. If everything is going well and to plan, then you simply continue with your therapy approach as is. However, if there’s any feedback, we use this information to make adjustments and improve the therapy approach so that it works better for you.
