In this solo‑host episode of the "Pain, Passion, and Purpose" podcast, Christian counselor Shakeeta Torres answers a listener’s question about the expected length of therapy and when progress can be seen. She explains that therapy is a process, not a quick fix, and emphasizes the importance of vulnerability, trust‑building, and honest communication in the first few sessions. Torres outlines how she gathers information, observes body language, and uses assessment tools to identify each client’s unique needs. She discusses how therapy length varies widely—some clients see change after a handful of sessions, while others may need six to nine months or longer, especially when trauma, anxiety, depression, or substance‑use issues are present. The episode reviews several therapeutic modalities she employs (Cognitive Processing Therapy, EMDR, CBT, trauma‑informed approaches, brainspotting) and explains why anxiety work often precedes trauma work. Torres also integrates her faith‑based perspective, noting her investment in spiritual growth, biblical study, and Christian counseling training. She stresses that client homework and work outside sessions are crucial for accelerating progress. Throughout, she promotes her paid podcast community, mentorship programs, and coaching services, inviting listeners to subscribe, ask further questions, and reach out for therapy in North Carolina or coaching worldwide.
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Welcome to Pain, Passion, and Purpose. I am your host, Shakeeta Torres, where I share mental health education, biblical teachings, and tips to help you to heal on purpose so you can walk boldly in your God-given purpose. This podcast is sponsored by Empowered Purpose Academy, a certified online Christian academy where where we provide services such as certification for Christian life coaches, mentorship for master's level aspiring and existing Christian therapists, mentorship for Christians, and continued education courses for the body of Christ. You can visit www.empoweredpurposeacademy.com to learn more and to download your free guide. If you like today's episode, please subscribe and leave us a raving review so that others can tap into the knowledge and wisdom that will be shared on this podcast. Thank you so much for being here.
Hey, so before I get started on today's episode, if you have not subscribed to the paid membership of my podcast community, please do. It is going to bless your life. Listen, my episodes are already like therapy slash coaching sessions where I give you strategy and insight and all that good stuff. But the community, you're going to get a lot more. You're going to get more resources, more tools, and be able to ask more questions where I can create episodes around your questions. And you will be able to get discounts on some of my, my products and my events. So what are you waiting for? The price is very affordable. This is for those who are not quite ready to invest in one-on-one coaching with me or into the Pain, Passion, and Purpose mentorship program, which is also low, by the way, but that one is a lot more in-depth. You get access to courses, you get access to the Facebook community, and all that good stuff. But this is for those who just need to just listen and just gain some tools along the way. So what are you waiting for? Go ahead, subscribe. You won't regret it. It'll bless your life. We'll have topics around mental health and faith, biblical teachings, prayer, um, boundaries, communication, anxiety, depression, purpose, and so much more. I have had experience in mental health since actually about 2008 when I first finished my bachelor's program, and then from that point all the way up today and moving forward, I have gained so much so much experience, so much wisdom, and I am anointed for it. So go ahead, hit that button, and I hope to see you in the community.
Hi, welcome back to my podcast. It's Shakeeta Torres. So I wanted to start a new thread on my podcast called Ask Shakeeta Torres because I often get so many different questions about therapy, about coaching, about what to expect and things like that. So the question I'm going to ask today is going to be, how long should I be in therapy? Or how long will it be before I see progress? So first of all, therapy is a process. It is not a one quick fix type situation. You don't just go to therapy for one or two sessions and then you're— and then you're fixed, okay? That's not how it works. I have had some clients who have had this thought or this notion that if they came to one or two sessions, then like everything's okay, and that's not true. And so I posted a few weeks ago on my Instagram page, um, there are 5 things you need in order to engage in therapy and to also help you to feel supported and feel good while you're in therapy. One is vulnerability. You have to be vulnerable and you have to be transparent with your therapist and be honest. Now, I don't expect for my clients to come during the first session and just pour their whole entire heart out because it takes time to build trust with someone. It takes time to be able to open up your heart because you may have been hurt before by a prior therapist or a friendship or a leader or a friend or whoever it may be. And So I've seen clients over the years on different spectrums. I have some that show up ready, they're wide open, they tell me their whole life story, um, the best they can in their first session. And I have some who are very, very guarded and they do not know what to expect because they don't trust me yet. And guess what? That's okay, I can handle that. But I tell my clients, I say, okay, the first session I'm just really gathering information about you. Really, the first 1 to 2 sessions, if not 3, we are— I'm gathering information. I'm hearing what you're saying. I'm hearing your heart. I'm hearing what you're saying with your mouth, but I'm also paying attention to your body language. I am looking at your history. I am looking at what you wrote down on your assessment, on your questionnaire. I'm taking into account a lot of stuff that I don't think clients are fully aware of at times that therapists are doing. We are trained to be observant. We are trained to dissect information. We are trained to listen to keywords and listen to certain things that you say to be able to help figure out what the root of your problem is. Now, I can speak for myself. I'm not saying that all therapists are this way, but this is how I operate. And so, but in the past I've had clients who show up with, you know, and have like unrealistic expectations. Like, you're gonna come to therapy for one session or maybe two and I'm supposed to just fix you. Okay, first of all, the boy, I am not God and I do not want to be God. I do not want to be your savior. I want to be a resource for you. I want to help the process to speed up because let's face it, whenever you go to a therapist or a coach who is trained what they do, you're going to get to where you want to get to a lot faster. Okay, what could take you maybe 4 or 5 years to heal on your own can probably take you a few months to heal in therapy. Our goal is to help decrease what you're experiencing, whether it's anxiety, depression, um, grief symptoms. Oh gosh, the spectrum is so huge. And in the future episode, I would definitely go over, um, the DSM. The DSM is what we use to diagnose clients, and it is full of different diagnoses. There's no way I can go over all those on this episode, but I will start to gradually incorporate that as I move forward in my podcast to really explain to you all what the DSM is and how we diagnose you. Okay, so with that being said, back to my— back to the question: how long will I be in therapy? Every person is different. I've had clients who've had 4 sessions, 5 sessions, and they were like, oh my God, like— and I said God because it was God— this truly just came in, met them where they were, and everything was just expedited. Like, talking about a miracle, a miracle. Then I have some clients who I've seen for maybe 9 months. Yep, 9 months. And it just depends on where that person is. Like, okay, so it's like, for example, let's say have a client that has a lot of trauma, a lot of history of childhood trauma, a lot of history of, you know, putting themselves last, having anxiety, depressive symptoms, thoughts of suicide, maybe even issues with using drugs and alcohol, you're going to be in therapy for a little while because we literally have to undo your, um, your patterns. You undoing and unlearning what you learn to cope with to replace it with coping skills. But I always tell my clients, yeah, you might be in therapy for 6 to 9 months, or maybe even more for some people, but it didn't take you 6 to 9 months to get to where you are. It might have taken you a lifetime, your lifetime, to get to where you are today. So therapy is a process. Therapy is an investment. As therapists, we've invested so much money and so much time into our craft, and a lot of people do underestimate, you know, what it is that we do to be able to help people. It's a— it's a lot. It's a lot. And it's taken us several years to perfect what we do. Now, I can speak for myself. I know I have. I've invested in so many different programs. I've invested in my time with God because I am a faith-based Christian counselor. I've invested in reading, you know, books and the word of God. I'm understanding trauma, reading about trauma coping skills and all that good stuff. But every client is different. And also sometimes I have clients that come and they might say, okay, well, I saw on your website that you do, let's say, CPT. CPT is Cognitive Processing Therapy. That is for trauma. Right? And with CPT, CPT does not really deal with the anxiety. It just deal with the trauma portion. And so I have to educate my clients, okay, listen, we can do CPT if I, if I see that it'll be a good fit for you. But first, let's go over your symptoms, let's go over your family history, let's go over your triggers, let's deal with some anxiety, get some coping skills, and then we do CPT. I've had clients that come and say, I want to work on trauma, but we had that first like 2, 3 sessions and like they're not ready. They're not ready because they have— their anxiety can be so high, so high, you guys, that dealing with your trauma is going to make it a little bit worse. And so I prefer— I'm supposed to anyway, most therapists supposed to do this— is work on the anxiety piece first, bring that down, and then begin to do some trauma work. And there's so many different ways to treat trauma. You have CPT, you have EMDR, um, you have CBT, um, trauma-informed therapy, you have brain spotting. There's so many different types and every single therapist is different. And so on my page I try to really educate people about the different types of therapy that I use. When I say page, I mean my website, www.empoweredtoshift.com. But I am going to go back in over the next 2 or 3 months and just really dig a little bit deeper so people can really understand, um, the therapy process. So with that being said, if you guys have any questions for me at all, please feel free to email me and I will discuss that on my podcast. I already have some other questions people have asked me over the past few years that I know would be a great podcast to really help people to understand therapy, diagnosis, um, go over a few coping skills But ultimately, just get my, you know, if you're in the area of North Carolina, this is where I work. As far as the therapy, I can see anybody in North Carolina for as far as therapy. As far as coaching, I can see anybody, anybody in the world for coaching. So yeah, so that's the answer to my question. It just depends on your situation. And I also encourage my clients to understand that You are your own unique person. Some people's timeline is a lot faster than others, but what you do outside of session is just as important as what you do inside the— inside therapy. When you do your homework, it maximizes your benefits of therapy. Whenever you do your homework, it helps you get to where you want to get to a little bit faster. I mean, every person is different, as I was saying before. And so thank you for listening. I hope this has helped to answer your question. Soon, and I will talk to you guys next time.
Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode. Our prayer is that this podcast episode has blessed you. Don't forget to go and subscribe and leave us a raving review. If you would like to sow into this ministry or to this podcast, Pain, Passion, and Purpose, you can do so at anchor.fm/pain Passion and Purpose, or Cash App, dollar sign Shakeeta Torres. Thank you so much, and I will talk to you next time.
