@Akinna I'm so glad you're feeling more comfortable with your new psychologist.
For what it's worth, it's actually not uncommon at all for people to feel like it's hard to speak in therapy - it can be a pretty confronting environment and if people tend to shut down or freeze up when they're stressed, then that can happen in counselling sessions too.
I've experienced this myself at times and I wanted to say that I think the stress that triggers the freezing up does tend to get less overall as trust and rapport build with the therapist (if it's a positive relationship).
Grounding exercises can also be really helpful during a session - things that can help you to feel more present and bring you back into a less stressed state; there are some nice ideas listed here if you'd like to take a look.
I'm not sure if they interest you, but if they do, your therapist might be able to support you with them too.
I love your idea of emailing ahead of time if you feel like that's something you'd be more comfortable with - it's great that your new psychologist has suggested emailing as an option too.
Sometimes if it's hard to speak during an appointment, it can also be helpful to email straight afterwards to let the therapist know some of the things you wanted to say but couldn't while it's fresh.
It takes so much courage to face these types of situations and persevere when it's so hard and I really hope your courage and perseverance pay off for you sooner rather than later. 💛
