Yes, therapists can be so helpful. After I had surgery I couldn't raise my arms over my head and the therapist helped me so much. She gave me sheets of instructions with pictures for exercises and I kept at it.
Some ideas are helpful if you do them everyday. For example, I didn't want to necessarily do an exercise, but I did want to have hot tea. So, I put my microwave on top of my refrigerator. That way every time I wanted to use it, I had to lift my arm up. Another thing I did was always put things in the trunk of my car rather than on the seat. I have a hatchback Ford Focus. The hatch goes up automatically to open, and at first I couldn't reach it at all to close it. I used a hook tool to bring it down. But I resolutely kept putting stuff in the trunk and trying every time to close it before I used the hook. If you can find some practical way to do your therapy exercises it's so beneficial.