Guide
How Often, and for How Long?
There is no fixed number of conversations that makes someone well. We decide the pace together.
One of the first questions people ask is how long this takes. It is a fair question, and the honest answer is that it depends on you.
Researchers have looked at this carefully. Michael Barkham and his colleagues found that people tend to reach a point they would call good enough at different times, and that many choose to stop when they get there. Nathan Hansen, Michael Lambert and Evan Forman found that improvement usually comes fastest early on and then levels off. Neither finding points to a magic number.
What That Means Here
We do not sell programs you have to finish. We talk about what you want to be different, check in on it as we go, and decide together how often to meet and when it is time to step back. Good enough is a real and worthy goal.
The point is not to keep coming back. The point is to need us less.
Between Conversations
Much of the change happens between meetings: in small practices, in noticing, in trying something new with the people in your life. That is why we give you simple things to carry, and why Mikey is there on the days in between.
Further Reading
- Dose-effect relations and responsive regulation of treatment duration: the good enough level, Michael Barkham and others, 2006
- The psychotherapy dose-response effect and its implications for treatment delivery services, Nathan Hansen, Michael Lambert and Evan Forman, 2002
Written in our own words, from ideas in the work above. Michael shared these books or cites them in his own study.
This article is a general reflection, not medical or clinical advice. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 in the United States, or your local emergency number.