Building Hope Counseling Services

Have you ever wondered what your therapist talks about behind closed doors?

Sometimes our emails are really boring. “Don’t forget to put your time off in the shared calendar.”

Sometimes we’re planning something. “See you at the 5K next weekend!”

Sometimes we’re reflecting on a mistake we made during session. “The intrusive thoughts won today.”

More often than not, I am sending the therapists that work at Building Hope notes of encouragement and thoughts for them to incorporate into their own sessions.

Below is a copy of an email that I sent earlier today. I didn’t edit it for this post, so you get full transparency on how we look at therapy and how much we respect and care for our clients.

“Hello, team!

I’ve been reflecting on the idea of being intentional, specifically as it relates to the experience of our bodies.

Your body already knows how to heal itself. Unfortunately, mostly due to the capitalistic hellscape we find ourselves in, we slowly lose access to our natural healing capacities as we grow older.

You go to school for the first time and you find out that you have to ask to go to the bathroom when your body knows it needs relief. I was one time working at an elementary school and a teacher refused to let a student go who clearly needed to, stating that he “needed to learn”… Ma’am what? Are you okay?

If you’re lucky, you get to exercise and practice moment for 45 minutes once a day, instead of being able to move your body when you body asks for it. Then you get older and you are forced to participate in organized sports during PE. Older again, you get 30 minutes for lunch at the office and barely get to see the sun, living for the weekend.

We slowly learn to ignore our body’s signals until we reach adulthood and start to say things like “oh my gosh, I forgot to eat” or “I didn’t have any water today”.

Let’s bring this idea back to our clients and how we can help them during their session.

I’ve started to pay more attention to my clients’ movements during session. Playing with hair, sitting up straighter or slouching back in their chair, using their hands to express their feelings, etc. I’ve been letting my client’s finish their thoughts, fully express their verbal parts, and then saying something like, “I noticed you played with your hair a lot while you were talking. Do you think we could take an intentional moment with that movement? Let’s just put our hands on our heads and see what comes from it.”

Some clients need more instructions around this than others. “You can move your hands or keep them still. You can use as much or as little pressure as you want. You can change what you’re doing as often as you want.” Some clients feel better if you model your own version of the movement that they were doing. Each client is an individual (as is every therapist!) so each intervention will look a little different.

The purpose of this exercise is not to “feel better”, although many clients report that they do experience a sense of relief after listening to their bodies in this way. The only purpose of the experience is to have the experience, to notice your body and learn to listen to its signals.

How can you practice intentionality in sessions or in your own life?

I’m excited to hear your thoughts! And of course, always happy to explore this topic deeper in your individual supervisions.

Happy Friday! Have a great weekend!

Be well,

Mikaela Trzesniowski Ladd, LICSW”

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