What if Therapy Had a Roadmap?
If you’ve been in therapy before, you may have had the experience of showing up each week, talking about whatever happened since your last session, and at some point starting to wonder:
Where are we going with this?
I do think there is value in starting somewhere and ending up somewhere totally unexpected and helpful…
But I also think it’s important to know what you’re working toward.
That’s why I like to collaborate with clients to build a support plan: a shared understanding of where you are, what you’d like to change, how we might work toward it, and how we’ll know whether therapy is actually helping.
Huh? A Roadmap for Therapy?
“Treatment plan” sounds more clinical than the actual process feels.
At its simplest, it’s a way for you and your therapist to get on the same page about a few things:
Current Concerns → Goals → Our Approach → Progress → Check-In
In other words: What’s happening? What do you want to be different? What are we going to do about it? What changes are we looking for? And how will we periodically step back and see how it’s going?
1. Current Concerns
What brought you to therapy? What feels particularly difficult right now? What patterns keep showing up? What do you notice about your emotions, relationships, or the way you move through your day?
You don't need to have a perfectly articulated reason for coming to therapy. “I know something isn't working, but I don't totally understand it yet” is enough to get started.
2. Goals
From there, we start figuring out what you actually want to change.
For someone struggling with anxiety, that might mean learning to recognize what they're feeling instead of immediately becoming overwhelmed by it. A lot of my clients like to explore feeling less guilty for having needs, setting boundaries, or disappointing someone. Or making choices based more on their own values and less on fear.
Your goals likely won’t be permanent, either. They can change as you understand yourself better.
3. Our Approach
In my work, we explore and collaborate a lot together. I like to get curious with clients about what they perceive their roadblocks to change being. I’ll help you observe discrepancies between how you want to live and how you're actually showing up.
And then we look for opportunities to do something differently:
Practicing a boundary, communicating something you've been holding back, checking in with yourself before automatically saying yes, or responding differently when a familiar emotion shows up.
Often, it’s the small every day changes clients make where they start to see progress.
4. Progress
Progress made in therapy likely won’t look like “I’m fixed!” or “My anxiety is gone forever and hasn’t returned!”
It’s smaller, more integrated than that:
Like catching yourself before slipping into an old pattern or taking your own needs seriously instead of immediately dismissing them. Imagine experiencing a difficult emotion without letting it take over your entire day or needing to stuff it down.
Hopefully, you're a little more compassionate toward yourself and/or more confident. Things that once felt impossible start to feel manageable.
5. Check-In
Every so often, I think it's important to zoom back out.
Is therapy helping? Are we still working on the things that matter to you? Has something changed? Do we need to adjust our focus?
A support plan isn't something we create once and then follow forever. It's something we can revisit together.
Over time, you may find that you feel more equipped to navigate things on your own or simply don't have as much need for therapy anymore. If that happens, great! We can talk about reducing session frequency, shifting our focus, or whether you met your goals and it’s time to “graduate” from therapy.
Okay, but what does this actually look like?
Good question! Here’s an example of the kind of plan I like to create with clients:
A sample therapy support plan.
A plan, not a prescription
Having a direction doesn't mean therapy will feel rigid.
There will be weeks when something happens and whatever we planned to talk about goes completely out the window. There will probably be goals you initially thought you wanted to meet that stop feeling important and new ones that feel more true for where you’re at now.
Having a roadmap like a support plan can help make sure that every so often, we can step back together and understand why we're doing what we're doing.
You don’t need to know where you’re going yet
If you read all of this and think, Well, I have absolutely no idea what my goals are, that's cool, too.
I might even be slightly concerned if you arrived to therapy with your own treatment plan all drawn up.
Sometimes figuring out what you want and what has been getting in the way of it is part of therapy itself.
You can come in knowing only that something feels hard, different, stuck, or not quite right.
We'll start there.
About Lauren
Lauren Lottino, LMFT, is a Colorado therapist specializing in grief, anxiety, trauma, sexual assault and abuse recovery. Her approach to therapy is warm, direct, and focused on helping clients create meaningful change in their lives.
