Initial sessions are two hours long.
After that? They are between an hour and a half and an hour and forty minutes.
It takes time to adjust to each other. And, if you’re reaching out because you find yourself in acute distress, it takes time just to ground your nervous system and process your emotions before coming up with a plan to move forward.
Once we’ve found our way through the worst of things, forty minute follow up sessions will be made available to you.
Here’s a testimonial from a client discussing the importance of longer sessions:
Working with Jim to recover from trauma was incredibly healing. I’ve always struggled to open up, even before my trauma. We’d gone most of a year doing one hour sessions that were helpful, but progress was slow. I was treading water but didn’t feel like I was climbing out of the hole yet.
One day we decided to go for a walk and chat in a park outside. We shared the normal updates and addressed some things and slowly made our way back to the office. It was hot. We were both dripping sweat when we got back. Once there, we sat down with some water on the cool floor and continued to chat. Our conversation shifted and I started to share some deeper thoughts and feelings.
We were quiet a while and I almost got up to leave. I can’t remember exactly what changed but all of a sudden I said something I had never told anyone. And in that moment Jim talked me through how so many of my coping mechanisms and things that made me feel irrational and constantly on edge and numb were based off of one simple idea. And all the past year’s behaviour all of a sudden made sense. I truly feel that we may never have made that breakthrough if we hadn’t had the time to sit through that moment of silence.
With my guard down, tired and hot and vulnerable, and with no easy thing left to say. All I had was the hard stuff. That long session was my turning point in my recovery. I was at the bottom and I don’t know where I would be if we hadn’t given ourselves the time needed to open up.
Jim Dalling 