Why Summer Might Be the Most Strategic Time to Attend Therapy

As a mental health therapist in Michigan, I’ve witnessed a familiar pattern in many of my clients, especially college students and working professionals. Year after year, I watch as their calendars explode in the fall. The pace quickens, the pressure builds, and their sense of balance slips quietly away. Their nervous systems become stretched thin as deadlines multiply and the days grow shorter, darker, and colder as summer fades away.

It’s during those moments when everything suddenly feels heavy and overwhelming that many people reach out for therapy, and that’s understandable! When you feel like you’re drowning, you grab for a life raft. While it's always important and appropriate to seek support any time you need it, I want to encourage us to consider how therapy can be used proactively. In my work as a therapist I can attest to this truth: it’s much easier to learn how to swim before you’re in deep water.

Why do I encourage therapy in summer? Because you’re still on the shore.

Summer in Michigan is sacred. After months of hibernation, we emerge into the warmth of the sun. The lake sparkles, the sun lingers for hours longer, the fresh breeze calms us, our shoulders drop. For many, summer also means their workloads lighten or shift. Students take a break from classes, professionals are afforded time off and slower caseloads. The world feels more manageable, our cups refill, our batteries recharge. It's in this temporary calm of our short Michigan summer that it can be tempting to hit pause on therapy because “I feel okay right now.”

But here’s the thing: therapy isn’t just for the moments when you’re in crisis. It’s most transformative when used proactively, especially for those who know that their symptoms of stress, overwhelm, anxiety, depression, or burnout tend to cycle back with the changing seasons.

Therapy in the slower summer months creates space for depth, clarity, and strategy.

When your daily life is not pressing on every nerve, you can actually think. You can look around. You can reflect with more spaciousness, clarity, and less urgency. This creates a more steady ground for the deep work that can be difficult to achieve when you’re in the thick of it and just trying to survive.

When we aren't dealing with the stress of fall and winter, it allows us more space in therapy to explore the root patterns behind your stress response. We can practice new coping strategies while your system isn’t overwhelmed and build emotional endurance before the next high pressure season hits. Summer therapy can deepen your understanding of yourself with the clarity that our stress often clouds.

The American Psychological Association supports this approach, noting that therapy is often most effective when there is “space to process, integrate, and apply skills” not just respond to crisis. Just like we don’t wait to go to the dentist only when the toothache is unbearable, therapy is meant to help you prevent pain, not just manage it once it explodes.

Think of summer therapy like preseason training.

Athletes don’t wait until the championship game to start conditioning, they train in the off season, building muscle memory, strength, and confidence so that when game day arrives, they’re not scrambling. Therapy can work the same way. Summer becomes your off season training; a time to build the emotional strength and tools you’ll benefit from when the mental load returns in the fall.

If you live in Michigan, you already know: winter is coming.

It’s not just a Game of Thrones reference. For us Michiganders t’s a reality that shapes our minds, moods, and energy levels. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) affects many Midwesterners. The long, gloomy stretches of our winters can sap your motivation and lead to symptoms of depression and fatigue. For many of my clients, the emotional slump begins not in the thick of January, but starts to creep in in September, when schedules are suddenly packed, the daylight noticeably starts to decrease, and we can feel ourselves bracing for another long haul.

Attending therapy in summer offers the chance to prepare for that shift instead of just reacting to it after it takes its toll. Therapy during your times of decreased stress can allow you to build the kind of psychological resilience that helps you move into fall with more capacity, more clarity, and more calm.

I share this with you as an invitation, not an obligation.

Let me be clear: if you’re genuinely feeling steady, grounded, and well, you may not need to be in therapy. But if you’ve noticed a pattern where your mental health takes a dip when the demands of life ramp up, summer may be the very time to lean in, not step back.

Therapy isn’t just about talking through your feelings. It’s about building a life where you know how to support yourself before you fall. It’s not just about surviving the storm, it’s about reinforcing the roof while the skies are still clear.

So if the sun is shining and your spirit feels a little lighter, consider using that light to do some powerful inner work, your future self might thank you when the leaves start to change.

About the author: Sarah Santiago is a licensed professional counselor in Michigan. She provides virtual therapy to Michigan college students and young professionals throughout Michigan. Her specialties include helping clients work through stress, anxiety, eating disorders, improving self-compassion, overcoming people pleasing, and more. Learn more about Sarah, here.

Note: This blog post is not intended to replace or serve as professional advice or therapy. If you are concerned about your mental health, it is recommended to consult with a licensed mental health professional. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis  know that you matter and there are compassionate people available to offer you free and confidential support right now- please let them offer you their help. You can find crisis resources here. If you're experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 immediately.