The Importance of a Termination Session
The relationship between you and your therapist is an extremely unique and special bond. Your therapist sees the most vulnerable parts of you. They hold you accountable to your goals while also being your biggest cheerleader. The relationship is built on an emotional bond of trust, care, and respect, and research actually shows that the strength of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of successful treatment. The therapeutic process is the rapport-building stage, the processing stage, the stage of change and/or maintenance, and the termination stage.
The termination stage is the final phase of therapy, where the client and therapist discuss their plans to end their work together. Termination can come about for many reasons, but most often, you and your therapist will come to an agreement that it is time to end.
How do you know you’re ready to “graduate” from therapy?
You’ve met your therapy goals
Discussion about termination begins from the very first session. In the first stage of therapy, you and your therapist will set goals you hope to accomplish throughout your treatment. You might revisit and re-evaluate these goals throughout the process, and you might get to the place where all goals are accomplished!
You can manage your symptoms on your own,
Similar to meeting your therapy goals, you might find that skills and techniques you’ve developed throughout this process feel like second nature and you don’t need as much support from your therapist to manage your symptoms anymore. You can take what you’ve learned from therapy and apply it yourself!
You’ve made stable progress and feel like your life has improved since you started therapy.
You might find that your mood has lifted, and you’re doing things you enjoy again. You might feel that you’re talking more and more about how you’ve been maintaining progress and how you were able to effectively manage problems that came up for you. This might signal that you’ve reached your goals and are working toward living the life you want to live.
You’ve run out of things to discuss with your therapist
You may find that you’re struggling to find things to discuss with your therapist, and maybe your symptoms have decreased to a point where it does not feel worth discussing.
When you feel that you’re ready to move on from therapy, it might feel more comfortable to just “ghost” your therapist or send them an email that you won’t be returning. However, termination is one of the most important phases of treatment, and not having that proper closure can be damaging to your progress. Significant thought and planning from your therapist goes into preparing for termination. One of the most beautiful things about the therapeutic relationship is its ability to model what healthy relationships and boundaries can look like outside of the therapy room. In your lifetime, you’ll experience relationships that end, and this process shows you that those endings don’t have to all be negative. This process can be extremely empowering and liberating and allows you to properly say goodbye to this incredibly amazing and intimate relationship. It’s an opportunity to integrate optimism and view termination as a new adventure and help foster confidence as you face the next chapter of your life. It can also feel extremely scary. You might feel reluctant to end therapy “just in case something bad happens.” However, if you’ve reached your goals, you have the tools to handle and manage whatever comes your way, and if down the line you feel that you need that additional support, going back to therapy is always an option!
If you feel that you’re ready to end therapy and have some questions, voice that to your therapist.
If you’re looking to start or jump back into therapy, the therapists at Root to Rise are here to help! Reach out to our client care coordinator to learn which Root to Rise therapist would be a good fit for your needs!
Warmly,
Root to Rise Therapy
References: