If you listen to your insurance company, you may believe that the only reason a person would engage in psychotherapy is to address the symptoms of a mental illness; that is, to treat depression, anxiety, etc.  This is one very good reason to seek psychotherapy, but by no means the only good reason.

 Long before insurance companies were involved in mental health, the primary goal of psychotherapy was to help people achieve a sense of well-being.  Therapy can   help  clients make sense of what is going on in their  lives, or to learn how to experience life differently.


Relational Therapy is a form of therapy that is targeted at goals beyond symptom relief.  While this form of
therapy is effective in treating symptoms, it does not end there.  In fact, you do not even have to have a psychiatric diagnosis to benefit from this form of psychotherapy.  It is based on an acknowledgement of the importance of relationships in everyone’s life.  Who you are and how you understand the world is the result of all of the important relationships you have experienced. 

Relational therapists understand that if you could have made your life better all by yourself, you would have.  But because we understand the central role of relationships in everyone’s life we realize that people cannot make profound changes in their lives without another person by their side.
 
If you think you may benefit from this type of therapy, please contact Kathleen Smith, MSW, LCSW at
(252) 367-2008. e-mail: kstherapist@gmail.com