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Alayna: Psychotherapy is defined as the processes that a mental health professional, such as a psychologist will use to help a patient improve their emotional, behavioral, or cognitive functioning.

Abebriel: Psychotherapy is talk therapy. So it's kind of like when you talk to someone about your issues. And then they help you try to work your way through it. And try to express yourself.

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Aleigh: After I had my twins I was diagnosed with postpartum and anxiety. I actually had counseling once a week. I feel like it helped me a lot.

I worked through not only the issues of the postpartum and feeling like I couldn't do anything. Because I was such a new and young mother. I had them at 21 so I didn't know a lot of things.

Through my therapy I learned how to have a voice for myself. How to learn that I am OK. That being a mother is something that you only get to learn by being thrown into it.

It's not really something you go to a class for. It's you learn as you go.

Alayna: I had a little bit of a traumatic childhood. And so I was a very quiet and an angry kid. When I was very young my parent put me in play therapy. Which was talk therapy for young kids who have problems talking and feeling safe with an adult in general.

It focused more on the therapeutic alliance than anything else. And so basically I would go for two hours every week. And we would play little games.

And she would ask me about my day. And ask me about how things were. And it was really cool.

When I got a little older and I was kind of more open to talking with her because I knew her for a longer amount time, I was also kind of starting to understand some more of what happened.

So she would just, instead of making my shy self talk directly, she'd ask me to draw a picture of how something felt. And then in the reverse how I wanted it to be instead of how it was.

How do you feel when you are reminded of this traumatic experience? What's it like having to relive those things? Stuff like that. And so that was very beneficial to me.

AJ: By being able to talk to people. Being shy. Actually talk therapy has allowed me to talk to different individuals or, should I say strangers.

But talk therapy does allow you to be more open. My family, they see I'm getting better each day. Every day is a like a battle with me. So every day they see some type of change about me that has been aided by talk therapy.

I tell him every secret that I have. Tell him what's going on in my mind. And he'll give me feedback on how to think or how to react to issues that I have within myself. So we're kind of like this.

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Alayna: Therapeutic alliance, basically the idea that there's a bond between a therapist and a patient that is based on mutual trust and mutual respect. So at the end of it the therapist will always really, without an agenda, try to help the patient. It was very helpful. I imagine they can't do their job without it.

Abebriel: Therapeutic alliance is extremely important. Because if you don't trust the person you're talking to, how are you supposed to talk to them in the first place?

You have to build that trust. So it takes time. But at the end it's always worth it.

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