Counseling For Your Long-Term Health and Happiness
Counseling is a relationship between you and the therapist. The focus should be on improving your insight and understanding yourself and improving relationships with those around you.
People come to counseling for many reasons. Some are in crisis, some seek to improve their lives or their marriages or other skills. Some come because they suffer from some form of mental illness or addiction and are looking for relief. Others come because they're looking for a secure and confidential place to talk out their problems. Counseling may involve your facing painful and hurtful feelings for the first time, understanding their roots, and working with your therapist toward healing and resolution. If it a process that takes courage and commitment.
Many times difficult subjects need to be addressed. There may be times when it does not feel good to be counseling. You should remember that you entered counseling for your long-term best interest. You came not because you wanted to avoid the issues, but because you needed to explore them. Tears are not uncommon in a counseling room. In the short-term, counseling may be upsetting, but in the long-term you can expect to leave the process happier and healthier.
You have the right to expect your counselor to adhere to high professional standards. The counseling profession is governed by a code of ethics that gives you certain rights. Don't hesitate to ask your counselor to explain your rights if you don't fully understand them.
You should expect your mental health counselor to customize your your treatment to your particular needs and concerns. Counselors never "fix people." Your counselor is with you to help you achieve the goals you set. Often times, the first part of the counseling process involves exploring your needs and helping you set your goals. Once these goals are set, they may need to be revised as new information is discovered in the counseling process.
Mental health counselors often refer to other professionals. They may refer you to a psychiatrist or to your family doctor for medication. They may refer you to a school counselor, university counseling center, or state employment center for career counseling. You might be referred to a psychologist for psychological testing, which may be beyond the scope of your counselor's own practice. When this occurs, your mental health counselor or therapist will discuss with you the reason for the referral and what he or she hopes you will gain in seeing another mental health professional. Of course, you always have the right to refuse the referral.
It takes courage to come to a counselor, admit something may be wrong in your life and needs to be improved. Perhaps you're seeking to become a better parent, spouse, or employee. Others come needing help coping with the everyday crises of life. Others seek to learn to manage life's stresses more effectively. For whatever reason you have come, you have sought the services of a professional counselor. He or she will warmly welcome you, attempt to make you comfortable, and bring his or her professional skills to you. He or she will do this as you build new skills, redress old hurts, seek recovery from mental illness or addictions, enhance your marriage, improve your parenting, and generally seek to be a happier and better person.
-- Elizabeth MacGregor is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) for the Montville Counseling Center and is an active member of the AMHCA.
Article referenced from the American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA).
