WHY DO I NEED THERAPY?

Therapy is for anyone who wants to enhance their well-being. Mental Health is for everyone. You don’t have to wait till you’re anxious and upset to start personal work. If you’re looking to understand yourself better, explore your identity, work through emotions, find balance in your everyday living, and also get clarity on things that have been upsetting you, you can try therapy to enhance your Mental Health.

 

WHAT CAN I EXPECT FROM THERAPY?

Therapy is your safe space where you learn to identify patterns, understand them and change them to what works in a healthy space for you. Therapy offers you confidentiality, genuineness and a space to be your authentic self. It is a gradual process that is collaborative with a trained Mental Health Professional. 

 

Leanne describes therapy like a sine-wave, she says “It feels really good at first since you’re exploring yourself with someone who genuinely cares for your well-being, with no judgement in a confidential, safe space. You learn aspects of self-love, self-soothing, and self-care. When you’re in a better space, we then begin the heavier work of identifying, understanding, and changing patterns that do not work for you. This may feel disconcerting at first but it is completely natural. Over time, you learn to bridge the overwhelm with all the self-care you’ve learned and the process gets easier until it feels seamless. That’s when you know you’re getting better and we begin to reduce therapy sessions and when you’re ready, we lead you towards graduating from therapy.”

 

HOW LONG DO THE APPOINTMENTS LAST?

Individual sessions are about 50-60 minutes long.

Couple sessions and family sessions are 1 hour 30 minutes long.

 

HOW OFTEN DO I NEED TO COME IN FOR MY THERAPY SESSIONS?

We generally recommend once-a-week sessions so as to establish continuity to begin with. As you feel more comfortable, we reduce the frequency based on your comfort level to once in two weeks, once in three weeks, once a month and then returning based on when you may need to brush up on certain things that may or may not be working for you.

 

​WHAT IS YOUR CANCELLATION POLICY?

To confirm your appointment with us, we take a full payment upfront at least 3 days before your scheduled appointment. 

 

For Clients in India: Appointments cancelled less than 25 hours in advance are fully chargeable.

For International Clients: Appointments cancelled less than 48 hours in advance are fully chargeable.

 

​WHAT IS THE THEORETICAL APPROACH YOU USE?

At The Unopened Box, we encourage our counsellors and therapists to get trained every year to enhance their skill-set. Most of our counsellors and therapists have their own dominant theoretical orientation grounded in psychological theory but we tend to use an eclectic method based on the client’s needs and wants. Our belief is in offering the best services to our clients by growing professionally. 

 

WHAT KIND OF THERAPY OPTIONS DO YOU HAVE?

We offer Therapy Sessions for:

 

Individuals: These are one-on-one sessions with you and a therapist in a safe, non-judgemental space where you can freely work through things that may be hindering your daily functioning. We work to empower you through a safe, empathetic and supportive environment, while also teaching you skills, coping strategies and working through your individual healing journey. All our processes are confidential.

 

Couples: These are sessions for couples with a single therapist. If you and your partner want to enhance your relationship by working through conflict resolution, effective communication, creating peaceful coexistence and more, this is a great option to explore a safe space that works to enhance and bring together the needs of the individual and couple, while also displaying individual and collective responsibility and accountability toward the process of therapy.

 

Families: Family Therapy is great for families that want to better understand their roles, responsibilities, accountability and create ways to enhance family dynamics and relationships. If you and your family wants to learn to enhance conflict resolution, communicate effectively, find ways to support each other as a unit where you retain your individual identity and enhance the family support, this is a great space to explore understanding yourselves and each other in a safe, supported and moderated environment. 

 

Groups: Group Therapy is a beautiful experience to learn, experiment and be open with a group of like-minded individuals who are showing up to be vulnerable alongside you. It’s a great space to learn to effectively communicate, understand patterns, work with a supportive space to overcome them, grow as a person and find kindred spirits who are non-judgemental and open to the process. Each group member is screened through an interview to put them in a group that best matches their needs. Do check out our information for when we host our new batches.

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​HOW DO I KNOW IF YOU ARE THE RIGHT THERAPIST FOR ME?

Ideally, it takes about 3-4 sessions to find your fit with a therapist. Often the first two sessions are what Leanne calls your ‘road-map’ sessions, where your counsellor or therapist tries to get to know you and your story better and you build rapport. The work begins more intensely by the 4th session and that’s when you’ll be able to make out if it works for you.

 

Since each client is an individual, we ask you to offer your counsellor or therapist feedback on what works and what doesn’t so that therapy can be catered to your specific needs. 

 

Ways to better understand if your therapist is the right fit is by asking yourself:

• Do you feel understood by your therapist?

• Are you comfortable enough to offer feedback?

• Do you feel like opening up to them and doing the work?

         

          Sometimes, if the answer is No to the above questions, it may also be important to ask yourself if you’re ready to open up and if you’re ready to be in therapy. Therapy can seem like an overwhelming process at times and it may help to understand what your needs and wants are. If you’re not ready for the process, that’s okay too. You can discuss that with your counsellor and have them explain what works and doesn’t work for you and it may help in understanding the process better while addressing your expectations of the process.

 

​WHAT ARE THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE THERAPISTS AT THE UNOPENED BOX?

The qualifications of each of our therapists are different. Our requirement for our teams is a Masters in Psychological Counselling. Since we encourage our team to grow their skill-set, based on their interest, passion, and area of expertise, they specialise in other skills that enhance their abilities. Some go on to doing PhDs, others acquire more therapeutic modalities, go into research, development of resources, etc. 

 

The minimum requirement for counsellors in our organisation are Trainees in the Final Year of a Masters in Psychological Counselling. Our trainees are individually supervised by Leanne and also supervised in group settings so that they can upgrade their skill-set. They go through a rigorous interview process before they are hired in the organisation. 

 

​DO YOU PROVIDE IN-PERSON OR ONLINE COUNSELLING?

At the moment, given the pandemic, we provide only online video counselling sessions. We believe in keeping our clients, counsellors, therapists, staff, and all of their families safe. 

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ARE THERE ANY ISSUES OR TYPES OF CLIENTS YOU DON'T WORK WITH?

Ideally, we prefer working with clients who come for therapy because they want it rather than people who are forced by their families or loved ones to come in for therapy. This is because we believe that people who come in because they want to are more likely to gain more from the process and be more open toward it than people who choose not to. We also like to believe that each one has a choice in what they do and we prefer our clients choose to be here.

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As therapists, we are very clear about our boundaries and request you to respect them, as we do respect your boundaries:

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Personal Boundaries
Kindly avoid swearing at your therapist or calling your therapist names. If you’d like to give your therapist feedback, please do so in a polite and assertive manner
Kindly avoid enquiring about your therapist’s personal life. They will self-disclose information that they are comfortable within the session. Questions and assumptions about their personal lives, relationships, personal plans, financial situation, appearances, etc. may be construed as crossing boundaries and the therapist will inform you as such.

Kindly avoid asking your therapist to attend your social and familial gatherings. We do want to support you and wish the very best for you. However, we also deeply believe in respecting your privacy and you respecting our privacy.

As therapists, we may not acknowledge you in public only because we respect your privacy and confidentiality. However, if you choose to acknowledge us, we will reciprocate and greet you. Details of our professional working relationship will not be discussed in public or outside of the therapy hour. 

Kindly respect and value our personal time and boundaries.

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Professional Boundaries
Please be on time for your sessions as a sign of respect to yourself, your therapist and the client who comes for therapy after you. Extra time will not be given if clients are late for sessions.

Please confirm your session by making the full payment of your session at least 3 days in advance.
 

Please understand that we have a 24-hour cancellation policy for clients in India and a 48-hour cancellation policy for clients abroad that we state at the initial intake of clients. If sessions are cancelled less than 24 hours or 48 hours in advance by clients it is fully chargeable.
 

IS ONLINE THERAPY EFFECTIVE?

It is extremely effective, Leanne has been doing online counselling for at least 3 years before the pandemic. Her international clientele has been happy and satisfied with her services. All we ask of you is to be open, honest and genuine in the process as it helps us help you better. It is a myth that counsellors and therapists can read minds, we work with body language. However, using the space to be open and honest with your needs makes it easier to do the work more effectively and efficiently for you as we do work out of theoretical approaches for each client case.

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IS ONLINE THERAPY SECURE AND CONFIDENTIAL?

We have been using online therapy from before the pandemic with our international clients and have had no problems with security and confidentiality. We use platforms that are mutually accepted by our clients and us and offer the client as much choice in which platform they most prefer for safe and secure services that have been approved by our international consultants.

 

As therapists, we do not record your sessions without consent. If we are likely to divulge information about your cases on the few clauses that are specified regarding safety protocol, legal aspects and harm to others, we will discuss it with you before doing so.

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WILL I ALWAYS BE ASSIGNED THE SAME THERAPIST?

Yes, we generally recommend working with the same therapist. If you do have issues working with the therapist assigned, you may bring it up with your therapist directly and also contact the organisation to state your difficulty and see if an alternative therapist can be arranged for you. 

 

This assigning of a new therapist would be done based on a conversation with you regarding your needs and expectations and the availability of our therapists. 

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WHAT DO WE DO IF YOUR THERAPIST SLOTS ARE FULL?

We do our best to provide quality work to our clients. We do so by maintaining a healthy work-life balance. You are important to us. We do not assign our therapists with more cases than they can manage. When they reach their capacity, the slots are full. You may be given slots on another week if their client roster is open.

 

Slots will be assigned based on the availability and bandwidth of the therapist to provide you with the best care. If our slots are full, we can offer to put you on our waiting list, enroll you for any group therapy or workshops if you are willing to try or refer you to external organisations that have multiple therapists who may be able to take you on immediately.

 

You can also check our page on Emergency Contacts if the need arises.

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