Testimonials
I’ve grown a lot since beginning therapy. I had made a mistake with a girlfriend’s family and was in complete denial that I had done something wrong. Dr. Roth helped me understand that I wasn’t recognizing my own faults and needed to accept that I can fail. I learned how to be more forgiving, not of others, but of myself. I’m continuing to normalize the sentence, “I’m sorry: I was wrong” in my daily life.
Therapy with Dr. Roth is, to put it bluntly, more blunt than with other therapists. I was expecting someone who would refuse to hand me answers and would want me to work things out myself. Dr. Roth will tell you what she thinks the best solution is and then tell you how you can go about fixing the problem you have. While figuring out the method to growth is the result, getting the answer and working backwards makes your goal clear while you try and figure out the path.
Dr. Roth has good universal experiences. Many of her anecdotes are things that I find myself doing and know other people would as well. I was lucky enough to find a therapist who has a similar way of deconstructing ideas and similar learned pattern of emotional control. While I still have things to learn, she is helping me through the latter.
Dr. Roth always has an informed response that gives you the right questions you need to solve your problem. It is very much a dialog that functions better if you aren’t afraid to ask. Dr. Roth always has feedback on decisions and interactions that I show her.
Dr. Roth is very clear when something you are doing that is unhealthy needs to change. I had a severe case of denial that was negatively impacting other aspects of my psyche and Laura not only assured me that making a change would be beneficial but gave me a roadmap of how to do so.
Therapy requires knowledge of the individual you’re trying to help. Dr. Roth gets to know you and how your mind works before she can begin to help you move in the right direction.
I remember a session with Dr. Roth in which I finally recognized that I made a mistake that I couldn’t rationalize away. It was immensely painful, perhaps even more so than the event itself. Dr. Roth helped me through the realization, but more importantly, made sure that I was equipped to try and avoid those events in the future. If I did make that mistake again, I was prepared for how to take responsibility for it.
- In what ways have you grown since starting therapy? Another way to ask this is, in what ways have you changed the way you respond to the people and challenges in your life?
- Since starting therapy, I have noticed that I am more patient and slower to react to triggers. I consider. I think. I contemplate. I don’t always get it right and, sometimes, the triggers get the best of me. But I know that I am finding it easier to control my emotions. I am finding it easier to see things from other’s perspective. I am finding it easier to open myself up to other options.
- If you have been in therapy previously, how is therapy with Dr. Roth different than other therapists you have seen?
- I have seen other therapists before. I’ve seen therapists mainly for crisis intervention. Once I had processed the crisis, I stopped regular sessions and would only attend for a “tune up.”
- Dr. Roth is the first therapist I have seen consistently over a long period of time. Her methods are quite different. She takes the time to really know and understand you. She tailors her methods, her questions, her tone of voice to your needs and to your current emotional state. Some days, she has been stern and quite direct, when I needed that type of counsel. Other times, she’s given me the space to just feel, to process, to cry, without any other intervention other than holding space for me to process these emotions.
- How relatable is Dr. Roth?
- Everyone comes to therapy in a different place in their lives. Dr. Roth really takes the time to identify this place and meets you there. Is she relatable? She makes herself relatable by meeting you where you are.
- Describe Dr. Roth’s style of therapy and how each session feels to you – is it dialog, and intimate conversation, a teacher-student relationship, does the therapist give you feedback, or does she nod her head a lot and say little?
- Again, Dr. Roth meets you where you are, where you need her. I have seen her for over three years now and I’d say that all of the above descriptions fit. Some days I need dialog. Other days I just need to be heard and understood intimately. As time has gone by, the teacher-student relationship has developed. Dr. Roth provides inciteful feedback and useful tools that can be implemented immediately.
- How would you describe Dr. Roth’s perspective on change? How is she trying to help you? Think about what you need to change in your life and think about how she responds to the challenges you experience each week. Is there a consistent underlying message being conveyed to you throughout your therapy experience?
- I knew Dr. Roth really knew me and understood my needs when she could pin point, with precision, my blind spots and areas that I need to really work on. These are areas that I don’t particularly care to look at – too hard. She understands that but knows how to weave in her counsel to address these. Is she consistent? Yes. She doesn’t let me wriggle out of uncomfortable discussions. She doesn’t let me forget issues, problems, patterns, etc. She brings them around in conversation, she brings them out with questions, she explains them through reading assignments, etc.
- In what ways does Dr. Roth go the distance to get to know you and tailor treatment to who you are and what you need as an individual?
- Dr. Roth uses everything at her disposal to provide the treatment needed. She has recommended books, podcasts, videos, etc. to give me further guidance depending on the issues I was dealing with. She texts to check in on me and responds quickly when I text her for feedback. She gives you realistic tools and resources so that you can help yourself.
- Can you think of a session that stands out in your mind as the turning point of your therapy or as particularly significant? Is there something Dr. Roth consistently says in your session that has helped you change some of your negative self-defeating patterns and the way you communicate with the people in your life?
- I had gone through a very painful crisis and Dr. Roth walked me through. She was incredibly supportive and really understood what I needed to overcome this crisis. About a year of working on this, I found a video log I had made when I was in the thick of sadness, loneliness and heartache. I showed Dr. Roth the old video log and we both laughed in unison. We laughed because I was so far from that moment. We laughed because I was so much stronger. We laughed because I am so not there anymore. It was an amazing moment for me. All the sessions, all the reading assignments, all the journaling, all the tools that she gave me made sense in this one moment. Our laughter was a recognition of my healing and my growth.