Last Updated on November 10, 2023 by Rayna
Calling and making your first counseling appointment is such an incredibly brave and healthy step for your mental health. There are so many emotions that accompany this move. On one hand, you have decided to deal with your emotional pain, which is amazing. But, on the other hand, therapy is another commitment of your time, not to mention the emotional toll, and the impact on your budget. My hope is that the Therapy Journal is the solution to the impact of making this commitment to go to therapy.
Table of Contents
- Purpose Of The Therapy Journal
- The Journey To Emotional Healing
- Comprehensive Therapy Journal Guide
- The Therapy Journal Solution
Purpose Of The Therapy Journal
I created the Therapy Journal as a solution to help you to get the most out of your counseling appointments. After all, you are committing your time, emotions, and money to this process. You might as well get the most out of your time in therapy right? The Therapy Journal is the perfect companion for your therapy sessions.
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The Journey To Emotional Healing
The Therapy Journal helps you to get the most out of your counseling appointments by providing guided journaling prompts for before, during, and after each session. I recommend sharing the information you journal about with your therapist at each appointment. The Therapy Journal is a companion journal for use with your therapist during your therapy sessions.
The process of guided journaling within the Therapy Journal takes you through preparing for your sessions, processing your thoughts and emotions during your sessions, reflecting back on your therapy sessions assessing you personal growth, then embarking on healing your soul. It is a tool to help you to develop coping mechanisms by recognizing your unhealthy patterns and letting God heal your heart.
Misconception of Therapy
I think one of the misconceptions with counseling is that it’s going to fix you. Don’t get me wrong. Therapy does help to solve many issues but really it’s there to teach you how to pursue Jesus and to learn coping mechanisms so that you are ready for life’s ups and downs.
Therapy doesn’t fix you. Jesus does. Counseling is a tool Holy Spirit uses to allow you to see your life from another point of view. When you change your perspective to that of using therapy to create a closer relationship with God and to hone in on and improve your coping skills then you are armed and dangerous.
We have to seek Jesus in the places where we don’t think He is. When I found Jesus in my pain, my life changed. I just never knew He was there. I thought that was a place void of Him. Oh, how wrong I was!
“For I am Wisdom, and I am shrewd and intelligent. I have at my disposal living-understanding to devise a plan for your life.
Proverbs 8:12 TPT
You can read the entire chapter of Proverbs 8 on Wisdom and how to grow with God here. I personally experienced so much growth in my walk with Jesus during my therapy days. It was like He was personally meeting me during my journaling and in my therapy sessions. My prayer is that the same would happen for you.
Comprehensive Therapy Journal Guide
I created the 12 journal prompts in the Therapy Journal based on my personal therapy experience. As a survivor of the childhood trauma of sexual abuse my mission in life is to eliminate the stigmas associated with grooming, sexual assault, trauma, and mental health. If you were abused in any way the abuse was your perpetrator’s fault and not yours.
The shame is not yours to carry. This took me years to learn what seems like a simple truth. My brain knew it but it took my heart a long time to absorb and live that truth. It was not my fault.
I created this Therapy Journal with a deep sense of purpose. My heart is for you to experience a profound level of healing that you have only dreamed of. That’s what happened to me and it can happen for you. I firmly believe that this guided journal can be a powerful tool in helping you to overcome your emotional pain and embrace life once again.
4 Parts of the Therapy Journal
The Therapy Journal is divided into four parts. The first three parts are directly related to each therapy session you attend and the fourth part is a record of your personal growth. You will use the first three parts for each therapy session to prep, process, and reflect. The fourth section is for you to keep a log of how and where you are growing.
1st Part: Prep For Therapy Session
- Part One: The first part is for you to prepare for your therapy session. This section will help you to decide what topics to discuss with your therapist by identifying your challenges and articulating your questions.
2nd Part: Notes During Therapy Session
- Part Two: The second part is for taking notes during your therapy session. Use this section for recording insights from your therapist including ways to cope and the guidance you received from that session. You can also jot down scriptures that were referenced, prayers to pray, and write out what your therapist recommends that you focus on and goals for your future.
3rd Part: Reflection after Therapy Session
- Part Three: The third part is for reflection after your therapy session to process everything that was discussed. After your therapy session, I recommend setting aside time to reflect on what you are learning, process your emotions, and focus on where you need help from Jesus. Write out your heartfelt prayers and pour your heart before God. In my experience, this place of honesty, repentance, and a tender heart is where God will meet you. There is something so special about vulnerability. Share these reflections with your therapist at your next appointment.
4th Part: Recording Your Personal Growth
- Part Four: After the three session-focused parts of the journal, there is a fourth section in the back of the journal for writing about your personal growth. This is a section for you to record your dreams, feelings, ideas, thoughts, and milestones.
- The dreams category can apply to your dreams for your future or you can use it for recording dreams you had while sleeping. Often the dreams you have at night are a reflection of what you are dealing with in your heart. And, God still speaks through dreams so they are important! Check out this dream interpretation blog post for more information.
- I recommend using the personal growth section for journaling about your breakthrough moments that you don’t want to forget.
The Therapy Journal Solution
The Therapy Journal is very straightforward and easy for anyone pursuing counseling. The three parts: prep, process, and reflect will help you to gather your thoughts and progress all in one place. I find it super easy to be able to have all of my counseling information in one journal. The Therapy Journal does that for you with this simple, easy approach to journaling.
Emotional healing is a precious gift. My prayer is that the Therapy Journal will encourage you to explore your emotions, connect with your faith in a new way, and produce a healthy love for yourself, even in the midst of your emotional struggles. My hope is for you to experience healing from your journaling that will lead you toward realizing and experiencing the unending love of Father God. I have prayed over each page in this journal asking Jesus to meet you in your pain and set you free.
Save this pin for inspiration!
Let’s Pray For Emotional Healing
Father God, I lift up the reader of this blog post to You and I ask You to touch their life like never before. Reveal Your love to them in a way that ministers directly to their heart. I pray that they would feel incredibly loved by You and that You would encounter this reader in their dreams with clues about their healing process. Release miracles, signs, and wonders in their life. Teach them in Your ways and give them a desire to know you more. Wow them with Your glory like only You can. I pray this in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Here’s a prayer for you to pray between you and Jesus:
Jesus, I give you permission to search my heart and show me where You want to heal me. Reveal to me any trauma or pain that needs to be uncovered. I choose today to look at the things You want me to look at and I make a conscious effort to trust You through this process. Please place people in my path that will teach me about You. I repent for all of the areas in my life where I have ignored you and I invite You to show me who You are because I want to know You more. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.
Did this blog post speak to your heart? I hope so! My heart is to reach your heart and share what I have learned in my journey with Jesus. Sign up today to receive my emails featuring the latest from Seeking Him Today by going to our Stay In Touch page.
