What Is Individual Therapy?
Individual therapy is a one-on-one form of counseling that gives you dedicated time with a therapist to focus on your experiences, concerns, and treatment goals. Sessions provide a private setting where you can talk through what you’re experiencing and work more closely on the areas of your life that need attention.
With the focus on you, your therapist can look more closely at patterns, experiences, or challenges as they come up. Individual counseling in Bowling Green can cover substance use, mental health, relationships, coping skills, or anything else connected to your care.
Individual therapy often works alongside group therapy and other services. Each has its own role in your treatment plan.
What to Expect in an Individual Therapy Session
Knowing what to expect can make starting therapy feel easier. Your treatment plan shapes each session, and your first appointment may look a little different from the ones that follow.
Your First Session
Your first session gives your therapist an opportunity to learn more about what brought you to treatment, what you’ve been experiencing, and what you would like to work on. You may also discuss your mental health or substance use history, current concerns, relationships, and other parts of your life that are relevant to your care.
You don’t have to cover everything at once. The goal is to start understanding your needs and what you want to work on in therapy.
Ongoing Sessions
As therapy continues, sessions can focus more closely on the patterns, experiences, symptoms, or challenges connected to your treatment goals. Your therapist may help you develop coping skills, explore how your thoughts and behaviors affect you, or work through situations that come up between sessions. What you focus on can change over time as your needs and goals change.
Individual therapy gives you a confidential space for these conversations. Your therapist can explain any limits to confidentiality as you get started.
I think this is stronger because it tells the reader what actually happens without promising that the first session is an “orientation,” that every therapist follows the same sequence, or that every ongoing session starts by reviewing the previous one.
How We Develop Your Treatment Goals Together
Everyone who comes to Redstone Behavioral Healthbrings their own story, so we tailor every treatment plan to your needs. When you start individual therapy here, your therapist works with you to set goals that fit your life. That could mean addressing substance use, working through a mental health concern, repairing a relationship, or learning how to handle tough feelings. Whatever it is, your goals guide the way.
This isn’t just a philosophy we prefer. Research supports it. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s Principles of Drug Addiction Treatment: A Research-Based Guide, no single treatment approach is appropriate for everyone, and treatment plans need to be reviewed and adjusted as a person’s needs change over time. We build your personalized treatment plan the same way, starting with where you are and adjusting it as you go, collaboratively, session by session.
Evidence-Based Approaches We Draw On
Individual therapy at Redstone Behavioral Healthisn’t a single technique. It’s a pool of evidence-based approaches that your therapist draws from depending on you and what your plan calls for. Not everyone works through the same modality, and no one needs to go through all of them. Your therapist selects what fits best, based on your goals and history.
Approaches we may draw on include:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): a structured approach that looks at how your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connect, and builds practical skills for responding differently to difficult moments.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): skills-focused work centered on managing intense emotions, tolerating distress, and improving how you communicate in relationships.
- EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing): a structured therapy often used for trauma-related conditions. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials found supporting evidence for EMDR’s effectiveness in treating post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART): a shorter-term therapy that uses eye movements and guided imagery to help process distressing memories.
- Motivational Interviewing: a conversational approach that helps you explore your own reasons for change, at your own pace, without pressure or judgment.
- 12-Step Facilitation: structured support that connects the principles of 12-step recovery to your individual work in session.
- Holistic Therapy: approaches that consider your whole life, including physical wellness, relationships, and daily routines, alongside your clinical goals.
If you’re managing both substance use and something like anxiety or depression, your therapist can use more than one approach in your plan. We focus on what best supports your goals.
How Individual Therapy Supports Long-Term Recovery and Emotional Wellness
Individual therapy helps you build skills that last beyond each session. If you’re working on substance use, that might mean learning to spot triggers, build coping strategies, and make a plan for handling cravings or tough situations.
For mental health concerns, individual therapy gives you space to notice patterns, practice coping skills, and work through challenges as they come up. These skills can keep growing as you make progress and face new situations outside of treatment.
When substance use and a mental health condition occur together, individual therapy can also address how the two may be affecting one another. Rather than treating them as unrelated concerns, your treatment plan can address both as part of your broader care.
How Individual Therapy Fits Into Redstone Behavioral Health’s Levels of Care
Individual therapy can be one part of a broader treatment plan at Redstone Behavioral Health. Depending on your needs and level of care, your plan may also include group therapy, medication management, holistic support, and other clinical services. Each serves a different purpose within treatment.
Individual Therapy and Group Therapy
Individual and group therapy each offer a different way to work toward your goals. Individual therapy gives you time to focus on your own concerns. Group therapy lets you build skills, talk through shared challenges, and learn with others. When both are part of your plan, they work together to support you.
Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP)
Our partial hospitalization program (PHP) provides the most structured level of outpatient care at Redstone Behavioral Health. It includes more frequent clinical programming while allowing you to return home outside of treatment hours. We may incorporate individual therapy alongside other clinical services based on your treatment plan.
Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP)
Our intensive outpatient program (IOP) provides regular clinical support with more flexibility outside of treatment than PHP. When individual therapy is part of your IOP treatment plan, one-on-one sessions can focus on your specific symptoms, experiences, and treatment goals alongside the other services you receive.
Outpatient Program (OP)
Our outpatient program (OP) offers the most flexibility of Redstone Behavioral Health’s three outpatient levels of care. Individual therapy may be used as part of ongoing mental health or substance use treatment based on your clinical needs and treatment goals.
Your care team uses your assessment to recommend an appropriate level of care when you begin and adjusts your treatment plan as your needs change.