# Session helpers After authenticating and [storing the encrypted session as a cookie](https://workos.com/docs/authkit/vanilla/nodejs/3-handle-the-user-session/save-the-encrypted-session), retrieving and decrypting the session is made easy via the session helper methods. ## Authenticate Unseals the session data and checks if the session is still valid. #### Authenticate ## Get log out URL End a user's session. The user's browser should be redirected to this URL. Functionally similar to [Get logout URL](https://workos.com/docs/reference/authkit/logout/get-logout-url) but extracts the session ID automatically from the session data. #### Get log out URL ## Load sealed session Load the session by providing the sealed session and the cookie password. #### Load sealed session ## Refresh Refreshes the user's session with the refresh token. Passing in a new organization ID will switch the user to that organization. #### Refresh