Reflection Questions for Ending Therapy: A Guide to Meaningful Closure
Many people fail to appreciate the significance of ending therapy. It’s a strange relationship after all — so boundaried yet so intimate. What scripts do we use for this kind of separation?
How you first consider handling this ending speaks to your personal history of relationships, attachment, transitions, vulnerability, love, and loss. Does it feel safer for you to walk away quickly? To be the one who ends it first? To linger longer in the connection as a way to avoid the discomfort? To disregard this as merely a professional transaction?
Whatever your approach, this is an ending that deserves attention, reflection, and care. My one and only plea to you is to have the final wrap-up session. We technically refer to this as the “termination session”, which sounds unnecessarily cold, but it’s the session we use to ritualize our ending, reflect on what was learned, and prepare to move forward.
Why? Because endings are beautiful and hard, and life doesn’t always give us the opportunity to say goodbye. We invested our hearts in this work and that means something.
(I could go on: it allows us to practice moving through a healthy separation, integrate skills and insights, ritualize our grief, identify additional resources to help you move forward, somatically prepare for a disconnection, etc. etc.)
Some therapists “require” this in their written agreement with you, but we know we can’t (and don’t want to) control your decision. You’re free to abruptly end or ghost, but trust me, these “easier” choices turn out to be really difficult for everyone involved.
So now that I’ve sold you on coming to the final session, here are some reflections questions you can use to prepare.
This isn’t homework. It’s an invitation to pause and honor your growth and deepen your insight on your own terms.
You don’t have to answer every question. You might skip around, journal, draw, dance, make a playlist, or talk through some of these with someone you trust. Trust yourself to take what you need.
Quick reflection
If you’re feeling short on time or energy, here are a few simple questions to start with:
What did you come to therapy for, and what’s different now?
What are you proud of?
What did you learn about yourself?
What are you carrying forward into the future?
What’s one fear and one hope you have for what’s next?
Where you started
Why did you first reach out for therapy?
What was life like then? What were you struggling with?
What did it feel like to begin the work of therapy?
What you learned
How has your relationship to yourself changed or evolved?
What did you learn about yourself during this time?
What discomfort, pain, or uncertainty did you have to tolerate or grow through?
How have you surprised yourself?
Relational growth
What did you learn about your relationships with others?
What were you able to work through or practice in therapy that helped you in the "real world"?
Is there anything that feels unresolved in the therapeutic relationship?
What helped and what didn’t
What helped you get to this point? What worked well in therapy?
What didn’t work or didn’t meet your needs?
What did you enjoy about the process?
What do you wish had been different?
Looking forward
What values are guiding you now? What’s important to you?
What are your hopes for yourself going forward?
What fears or uncertainties do you carry as you leave therapy?
What tools, skills, or practices are you taking with you?
What additional support or resources might you need going forward?
Celebrating and grieving
What challenges have you overcome?
What successes are you proud of?
What do you want to celebrate about yourself and this journey?
What do you want to mourn or grieve as you move on?
What intentions do you want to set for this next chapter?
Creative closure ideas
Not all reflection has to be written. Try:
Writing a letter to your past or future self
Creating a playlist that represents your journey
Drawing a timeline of your growth
Reading a closing poem with your therapist
Choosing one word to carry into your next chapter
You might not have answers to every question, and that’s okay. These reflections are an invitation, not a checklist. Take what resonates, and leave what doesn’t. Most importantly, know that every ending is also a beginning.