It is most urgent that you seek real, true perception,
So you can be free in the world
And not confused by ordinary teachers.
It is best to have no obsessions.
Just don’t be contrived.
Simply be normal.
You impulsively seek elsewhere,
Looking to others for your own hands and feet.
This is already mistaken.
- Linji (d. 867) courtesy of dailyzen.com

An understandable issue with psychotherapy is this idea that there is someone out there who knows more than me about how to live my life. The response to suggestions of seeking professional help is "I can solve my own problems!" There is a stigma associated with seeing a therapist, that someone is crazy and unable to care for themselves or worse pose a threat to society. This becomes even more complicated when it is parents seeking help for their child. Is there a way to seek real and true perceptions in the therapist's office? How would you know if it was real? What is the difference between a therapist and an ordinary teacher?
We know that the experience of being understood is a more powerful curative factor than the clinician's degrees and theoretical orientation.  What is real is what makes sense and if there is the experience of having a new idea or perspective on an issue then you are the one who has made the discovery. Therapy is different from the classroom because there is no lesson plan, there is a companion for your journey who will ask questions and learn from you as you learn about yourself. This is the genuine therapeutic process, my training and experience provides me with a fund of knowledge to choose the right kinds of questions at the right time in the journey- unless I don't and there is a break in the connection. What is unique in therapy is how even the breaks become important opportunities for learning. The journey in therapy is not supposed to be easy, the hardest part will be acknowledging your hands and feet in a compassionate and non-judgemental way. Together we will seek that elusive simplicity.