This Month’s Featured Therapist, Lynne Raju
Every month, Council for Relationships features one of our staff therapists on the blog. This month’s Featured Therapist Lynne Raju, MS, LMFT, joined our staff in early 2019. Get to know more about Lynne in the interview below!
Tell us a little about what makes you unique as a therapist and person.
What makes me unique as a therapist is that I have Master’s of Science in Biomedical Sciences, with a concentration in Forensic Biology, and a Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. This allows me to be experienced in both the mind (mental health) and the body (medical). My approach to therapy is holistic and tailored to where my client’s needs are.
What do you consider to be the goal of therapy?
For me therapy is a journey towards healing from the past to create the future that you want. As a transgenerational therapist, I believe that our past effects who we are today. So, in therapy I like to review things from the past to the present to get a clear view of the problem and its roots.
I believe therapy is not something you should need for the rest of your life. I believe if we can address and get clarity about where an issue started, it becomes easier for the client to understand how and why they behave/feel the way they do. Once, this happens implementing and following through with the interventions becomes more successful and the client gets the outcome they are looking for.
Why did you decide to become a therapist?
Once upon a time I wanted to become a doctor, because I always had a passion to help heal people. However, once I got into the medical field I realized that if the mind is not healthy neither is the body. I also noticed that there is a great need for mental health awareness and help in the minority population. Many in the minority population have a negative connotation to what therapy is and who needs it. I became a Marriage and Family therapist to create the change I wanted to see in the society around me. I wanted to help individuals, families and relationships to heal and reach their full potential.
Fast forward to today, I love what I do and the families and clients I work with. I am very fortunate and blessed to be able to see them grow and heal and become who they want to be.
What is one piece of advice you would like to give people who may be struggling emotionally and would like to seek to counsel but may not be ready?
Many times I have clients that come in and say, “I wish I had come in earlier… I didn’t because I didn’t have the time, money or I didn’t like my experience before.” Seeking out therapy is a not an easy decision to make. It takes a lot of courage and effort to go through therapy. However, the benefits of therapy are immense. Do your research, find the right therapist that has experience with dealing with the problems that you are going through. When we are going through problems and struggling emotionally, we will find ourselves wasting a lot of our time and effort in our heads. This then affects how we behave, and can causes us to damage our personal and professional relationships. When you find the right therapist and go through therapy, you will find yourself healing and becoming the person you want to be for yourself and for others. The rewards of therapy are priceless.
What does a first session with you usually consist of?
Typically, my first session will start with gathering information about yourself, like what brings you in, demographics, etc. Once the paperwork is done, we get into collecting information about the what your childhood was like and go forward until we get to the present. So, in essence we are collecting timeline information about you and your family. Then in the following sessions we work together to form interventions for you to practice and use in between sessions to start the journey towards healing.