Counseling can provide individualized assistance to different people in copious places of life, people with different challenges, and people with various needs. Each person is unique, and our needs in counseling are unique.
Counseling is a place to vent.
For some, counseling is a place to vent their thoughts and feelings to a trained professional instead of keeping those thoughts and feelings inside or sharing them with a friend or family member.
This expression is a productive use of counseling services!
Counseling is a place to learn about yourself.
Self-awareness, or knowing oneself, tends to be fostered within a counseling environment. Better understanding oneself through verbal communication, structured and supportive exercises, or written activities can lead to more informed interactions and choices.
Counseling is a place to recognize maladaptive patterns.
As self-awareness presents itself, sometimes people recognize that their habits, routines, or patterns are unproductive, damaging, or self-sabotaging. When we recognize maladaptive patterns, we can work on practical steps for changing them. We can check in with updates and problem solve any barriers to change that we may be encountering. We can establish healthy, productive patterns (often decreasing frustrations, disappointments, and guilt while improving the way we think and feel about ourselves).
Counseling is a place to identify unused opportunities.
Sometimes there is a door of opportunity in front of us, and we just miss it. Through sharing about our situations and being supported in problem solving, sometimes we can recognize and utilize those doors that were previously hidden from us.
Counseling is a place to work on relationships.
We can work on relationships by attending counseling with partners or family members, but we can also work on our relationship skills in individual counseling sessions. We can work on parenting skills, setting boundaries, communicating, attachments, and more.
Counseling is a place to develop skills.
Skill-building can be a large piece of the counseling process. Though I previously addressed relationships skills, there are many skills that can be learned during counseling.
Developing positive coping skills for dealing with stress, anxiety, or other emotions and situations can be life-altering. Conversational skills can be discussed and role played, as can additional communication skills. Grounding skills can be modeled and practiced. The potential for skill building in counseling is expansive.
Listed above are only a handful of the numerous ways that counseling can benefit individuals. There are many types of counseling that help with specific situations, such as processing traumatic events, problem solving, or expressing emotions.
The possibilities are vast. How could counseling benefit you?
