Welcome back to My Jamaican Vignettes. Today we are discussing why I recommend therapy beyond it being mandated for mental health illness management. I am sharing my experience with Tea House Therapy.
My First Therapist
I had my first talk therapy session in early 2020 before COVID-19 hit Jamaica and I was hesitant to open up. I felt fragile and unsure. This was therapy that my psychiatrist mandated and to help me come to terms with my mental health diagnosis and enable me to adjust to my new reality. My therapist was kind, she listened and probe when necessary but our time together was short-lived. COVID hi, my salary was affected and talk therapy was one of the things that I cut from my spending plan.
Tea House Therapy Experience
In the last quarter of 2023, I decided that it was time to try therapy again. Via my LinkedIn Premium account I received two months discounted access to the American online therapy platform Better Help and so I signed up. I was paired with a lovely African American therapist and she was kind, she listened and she guided. What I wanted from therapy in 2023 was so different from what I wanted or needed in 2020. By 2023 I was comfortable with my diagnosis and my mental health felt balanced, I took my meds and slept well. But I felt stuck as if I was simply existing instead of living my life.
My two month of BetterHelp ended in December 2023 and I started exploring local options for online therapy. That is how I ended up at Tea House Therapy. My initial intake session was two hours long in January 2024 and I believe I ended up going to in-person sessions two times. However, for the majority of the time I was in therapy I had Saturday morning sessions which were either monthly or bi-monthly from the comfort of my home via Google Meets.
I highly recommend it. Here were some key differences between BetterHelp and Tea House Therapy. My therapist at Tea House understood the local and cultural factors that affected my mental health in a way that an American simply could not. My time with my local therapist was also longer and I got more out of those sessions to help me cope and handle what life threw at me in 2024 and 2025.
So, yes I highly recommend talk therapy.
What You Can Gain From Therapy
Here is the thing, you don’t have to be falling apart to begin therapy and don’t need to be diagnosed with a mental illness.
Here are some things you can gain from therapy:
- Direction and guidance with your life goals and next steps if you feel stuck or stagnant.
- Assistance or guidance healing or addressing past trauma or abuse.
- Substance abuse support.
- Martial or couple’s counselling.
- Assistance and tools to help you be a better parent.
- Tools and guidance in navigating grief.
- Life skills to help support growth and achievements.
So have I convinced you to try therapy yet?
