Therapy at Marble Wellness is designed to be more than a quick fix. For many people, meaningful, lasting change usually happens over about 10 to 12+ sessions because real healing takes time, safety, and practice, not just a single “aha” moment.
Why “a few sessions” usually isn’t enough
If you’re thinking about starting therapy, you might be wondering, “How long will this take?” or “Why do I keep seeing 10–12+ sessions?”
Those questions are so normal, especially when you’re juggling school drop-offs, work, family, and an already packed mental load.
Here’s the honest answer:
Change is absolutely possible. But it rarely happens in two or three conversations. Your brain, body, and nervous system need repetition, safety, and time to learn new ways of thinking, coping, and relating to others.
At Marble Wellness, we tend to think of therapy less like an urgent care visit and more like physical therapy for your emotional life. You wouldn’t expect a rolled ankle to fully heal after one stretch; the same is true for anxiety, depression, grief, or overwhelm.
What typically happens in the first 2–3 sessions
The first few sessions are about getting to know you and helping you feel grounded in the space, whether that’s in person in West County/St. Louis or online anywhere in Missouri.
In those early sessions, you and your therapist will usually:
- Talk through what brought you in: the symptoms, stressors, and stories that matter right now.
- Explore your history gently: past experiences, relationships, and major life events, at a pace that feels okay to you.
- Clarify your goals: what “better” looks like for you (e.g., less anxiety, feeling more like yourself, calmer parenting, fewer blow-ups in your marriage, etc.)
- Begin to build trust: you feeling out your therapist, and your therapist really listening, without judgment, labels, or pressure.
By the end of those first couple of sessions, you’ll have a clearer sense of: “Can I see myself opening up to this person?” and “Does this feel like a good fit?”
Why we recommend weekly sessions at first
We generally recommend weekly sessions for roughly the first 8 to 10 sessions. That’s not about keeping you in therapy “as long as possible.” It’s about giving you:
- Momentum: You don’t have to start over every time. Each session builds directly on the last.
- Support during the hardest part: The beginning of change often feels the bumpiest. Weekly support helps you stay with it instead of shutting down or giving up.
- A safe, predictable space: Knowing you’ll have that 45 to 50 minutes carved out every week can be grounding, especially if you’re an overwhelmed mom, a stressed professional, or just feeling stretched thin.
Many people notice small shifts within those first several sessions: sleep improving a bit, feeling less on edge, reacting differently in a familiar stress situation. Those “small” changes are actually signs that deeper work is happening.
Why 10 to 12+ sessions is often the sweet spot
Every person and situation is different. But there’s a reason we often see a meaningful arc over a few months of weekly therapy sessions.
Roughly, it often looks like this:
- Sessions 1-3: Getting to know you, building safety, clarifying goals.
- Sessions 4-6: Starting to dig in—patterns become clearer, emotions come forward more easily, and we begin practicing specific skills and tools.
- Sessions 7-10: Applying those tools in real life, processing deeper themes, noticing how your relationships, routines, or self-talk are shifting.
- Sessions 10-12+: Refining, strengthening, and sometimes choosing: “Do we pause here?” or “Is there deeper or longer-term work I want to keep doing?”
This doesn’t mean that at session 11 you should suddenly be “fixed.” Instead, those weekly sessions create enough space for:
- Trust to deepen so you can share what’s really going on.
- New insights to sink in instead of staying as “good ideas.”
- Skills like grounding, boundary setting, or communication to become more automatic.
- Your nervous system needs to slowly recalibrate from “constant threat” to “I can navigate this.”
Some concerns that therapy cannot rush:
You might be coming in for:
- Anxiety that’s been humming in the background for years.
- Postpartum overwhelm that feels like you’re drowning while everyone else is “handling it.”
- Grief that comes in waves: sometimes you’re okay, sometimes you’re knocked flat.
- A relationship or marriage that feels stuck, distant, or tense.
- Burnout or chronic stress from work, parenting, or caregiving.
None of these are “quick fix” experiences. They are layered, emotional, and often connected to old stories about yourself or your worth.
Therapy creates a space to:
- Untangle those layers.
- Notice where old wounds are still influencing current reactions.
- Practice new ways of responding, not just talking about doing things differently
And that takes more than a handful of conversations.
You stay in the driver’s seat
Even though we talk about 12+ sessions, there is no one “right” length of therapy.
At Marble Wellness:
- Some people reach their immediate goals in 8 to 12 sessions and feel ready to wrap up.
- Some stay in therapy for 6-12 months as they move through big life changes or deeper healing.
- Some come for a stretch, take a break, and come back when a new season of life brings fresh stressors.
You and your therapist will keep checking in together:
- Are your goals changing?
- Do you want to slow down, space sessions out, or go deeper?
- Does it feel like time to wrap up and integrate on your own for a while?
You are not “failing” therapy if you need more time, and you are not “quitting” if you decide you’ve gotten what you needed and you’re ready to take a break. There really are no gold stars given out for “shortest time in therapy.”
Cost, time, and the emotional investment
It’s okay if a part of you is doing the mental math.
You might be thinking:
- “That’s a lot of time each week.”
- “That’s a lot of money.”
- “I don’t know if I can emotionally go there for that long.”
All of those thoughts make sense.
Some things that help our clients in Ballwin, Lake St. Louis, and across Missouri:
- We’re transparent about frequency and cost from the start: sessions are generally 45–50 minutes, and usually weekly at first.
- You can talk openly with your therapist about your budget, schedule, and energy levels. Together, you can adjust the pace—even moving to every other week once you’ve built some momentum.
- We remind you that therapy is an investment in how you feel day to day—in your patience with your kids, your closeness with your partner, your sense of “I can handle this,” and your overall quality of life.
You deserve support that actually makes a difference, not a rushed, surface-level experience that leaves you feeling like the “problem” is you.
What if you’re an overwhelmed mom?
If you’re a mom in West County, Chesterfield, Kirkwood, O’Fallon, St. Charles, or anywhere in Missouri reading this and thinking, “Ten sessions? My schedule can barely handle one more thing,” you’re not alone.
We work with many moms in your exact situation.
To help, we offer:
- Flexible scheduling, including daytime and evening appointments, and the option to bring babies under 9 months to the session.
- Online therapy options so you don’t have to factor in drive time.
- Park or walk-and-talk sessions with stroller-age kids.
Therapy can fit into your real life, not the other way around. And those initial weekly therapy sessions can become a steady anchor in a very full season.
How do we decide together when to continue or wrap up?
You won’t just suddenly “age out” at session 12.
Instead, you and your therapist will keep an open conversation about:
- What’s feeling better?
- What’s still feeling hard?
- What do you want next?
Sometimes that means:
- Gradually spacing sessions out.
- Shifting focus (for example, from crisis coping to deeper identity work).
- Celebrating the work you’ve done and creating a thoughtful plan for ending.
The goal isn’t to keep you in therapy forever. The goal is to give you enough time, care, and support to create changes that actually last.
If you’re on the fence about starting therapy in the St. Louis, MO area…
If you’re already reading this, something inside you is probably whispering that you’re ready for some help.
You don’t have to know exactly how many sessions you’ll “need” to take that first step.
At Marble Wellness, we’ll talk honestly with you in those early sessions about what we’re seeing, what you want, and what a realistic timeline might look like for you.
If you’re in the St. Louis area or anywhere in Missouri and you’re curious about starting:
- You can reach out through our contact form or call the office to ask questions.
- Our admin team will help match you with a therapist who fits your needs and schedule.
- From there, you and your therapist can decide together what pace—and how many sessions—feel right for your life, your nervous system, and your goals.
You deserve more than a quick once-over of your pain. You deserve the time, care, and consistency it takes to actually feel better.
Contact Us!
Learn About Our Group Offerings
About Our St. Louis Area Therapists
The St. Louis area therapists at Marble Wellness are licensed mental health professionals serving clients in Ballwin, Lake St. Louis, and throughout the greater STL area, with online therapy in Missouri available across the state. Each member of our expert therapist team brings advanced training and extensive experience in areas like anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, life transitions, and relationship concerns.
When you reach out, you are matched with a therapist whose background, specialties, and style align with your goals so you can have both practical tools for right now and deeper insight for long-term change. To learn more about the therapists at Marble Wellness, visit our Meet Our Team page to read individual bios, specialties, and locations, and to take the next step toward the calmer, more fulfilling life you’ve been wanting.
Additional Counseling Services at Marble Wellness in St. Louis, MO
Marble Wellness Counseling services are designed to help set you on a path of living a more fulfilled, calm, and happy life. Our St. Louis area therapists have a variety of training backgrounds and areas of expertise. We have child and play therapists, therapists for teens, EMDR therapists, men’s mental health experts, couples therapists, and more! We specialize in anxiety, depression, grief, chronic illness, trauma & PTSD, life transitions, and maternal overwhelm. Our practice also specifically helps new moms with various postpartum concerns, moms in the thick of parenting, and moms with teens. We can also chat from wherever you are in the state with online therapy in Missouri. No matter where you are in your journey, we are here to help you thrive!
